The smart move for SAA would have been to retreat to a defensible position and then launch an insurgency against HTS. HTS is deemed a terrorist organisation and they do not enjoy the broad popular support like the Taliban do in Afghanistan, so they do not have the means for a protracted war or sustained conflict, meanwhile Russia can continue supplying SAA through the ports/airfields.
Wasn't just HTS, they were being attacked from rebels in 2 other directions, from the South and Southeast. The rebels in the south had simliarly negotiated with Assad, but just a couple days ago started their offensive towards Damascus. Meanwhile cities which Assad held for years in the last civil war fell in days to HTS.
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/6428801
The SAA didn’t abandon equipment like the Afghan Army did when Taliban advanced. The SAA seems to have retreated with their vehicles, there is no sign of a rout.
Some of it was salvaged by crossing into the Iraq border, but I've seen reports that it was also abandoned. https://x.com/adam7867863/status/1864306554314342850 https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1865594048284680445
Edit:
It's official, Assad resigns. - Russian Foreign Ministry
Russia bombed the rebels, together with the Syrian Air Force they were killing 200+ a day which would have mattered in a long war. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/syrian--russian-forces-eliminate-terrorist-units-in-coordina
But they never had many forces on the ground (6000 personel in 2017, idk how many now), Iran/Hezbollah basically liberated the country last time.