Nobody will mourn the fall of monster Bashar-al-Assad – a dictator who tortured and gassed his own people

Syria vacuum

NOBODY will mourn the fall of monster Bashar-al-Assad.

For decades the dictator and his family tortured, gassed and stole from their own people.

Having ruthlessly crushed an uprising during 2011’s Arab Spring, Assad selfishly ignited a 13-year civil war which has claimed half a million lives.

There could never be peace while he reigned from his lavish presidential palace.

But removal by hardline Islamist fighters now represents a moment of huge peril.

Whether Syria now becomes a civilised democracy or a Muslim theocracy akin to Iran’s is still far from clear.

The complete failure of the West to grip the civil war in 2013 was never better illustrated than when Labour’s Ed Miliband played party political games to vote down David Cameron’s support of crucial US airstrikes.

In turn, that emboldened Putin to flex his global military ambition for the first time by siding with Assad.

A decade later, the Russian tyrant felt able to invade Ukraine.

The terrorist ayatollahs in Iran and Erdogan’s Turkey were also allowed to pile in as Syria sank into a lawless miasma of tribal factions.

Meanwhile, Europe was forced to soak up the cost as 14million Syrians fled — the biggest refugee crisis ever.

After a decade of ignominious mistakes, the West now faces having to do business with rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani.

Can they trust a man who was once an al-Qaeda terrorist with a $10million US bounty on his head who leads a group proscribed in the UK but now puts on smart suits to talk about promoting “diversity”?

In the longer term what does the Islamists’ victory mean for women, Christians — and their Jewish neighbours in Israel?

And can Syria be prevented from becoming, like Afghanistan, a crucible of hate used to launch terror attacks here in Britain?

Syria’s current prime minister says it can once again be a normal country.

Whoever eventually ends up filling the vacuum in Damascus caused by Assad’s sudden fall — and what they do with that power — could have profound consequences for us all.

Home truths

AFTER a decade of Government failure to build enough new homes, Labour deserves credit for setting an ambitious target of 1.5million in five years.

But if ministers expect another 2.5million migrants to Britain where are they all going to live?

Angela Rayner failed to answer this basic question yesterday.

It’s a simple equation. Build more homes, allow fewer people in.