Fans of famous blind mystic Baba Vanga have claimed she predicted the downfall of Bashar al-Assad - but warned that it will be followed by World War III.
The so-called "Nostradamus of the Baltics" made many predictions which some claim have borne an uncanny resemblance to current events, despite her dying in 1996. She is claimed to have foreseen a number of seismic events in recent history, including the Covid pandemic, 9/11 and the death of Princess Diana. Last weekend, the Syrian government was dramatically overthrown by rebels who stormed the Syrian capital of Damascus, ending over half a century of brutal rule by the Assad family.
Now, it has been alleged that Baba Vanga once made a prediction on this very topic - and it's one that might not bode well for next year. According to Indian media, she said: "When Syria falls, a great war between the West and the East will follow. In the spring, a conflict will ignite in the East, leading to a Third World War — a war that will destroy the West."
It comes after devotees of the late mystic argued over her alleged predictions that the world would end in 2025. Some had been left worried after next year was reported as the year she had forecast the apocalypse - but fans who re-evaluated the original context of Baba Vanga's words claim there are still thousands of years left before her "true" prediction is heard. "She didn't even say that the end would begin in 2025, according to her words the end of humanity would come in the year 5,000 (if she were a true prophet)." Others called the Balkans-born psychic a "true mystic" who "never said years in her predictions".
Baba Vanga, also known as Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, was a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant who became famous in Eastern Europe in the mid-twentieth century for her alleged powers of precognition. She was born in 1911 and lost her sight when she was just 12 years old after a storm hit her village. After the incident, her followers say she developed the ability to see into the future, and she was visited by people from far afield eager to her prophecies. Her popularity at the time became such that the communist-era Bulgarian state tried to suppress her activities, though many party officials were known to be among her clients throughout her years. She died on August 11, 1996 from breast cancer.