Syria rebels take Damascus, Assad reign ends
DAMASCUS, 13 days ago
Syrian rebel forces claimed that they have captured capital Damascus and have ended Bashar Al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule.
Reports say that Assad has left Damascus by plane for an unknown destination, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Unverified footage shared on social media shows thousands of inmates have been freed from the notorious Saydnaya prison - where Assad's opponents were tortured and executed.
In their first announcement on state television following a lightning offensive that took the world by surprise, the rebels said: "We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison."
Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.
But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against "terrorist groups" in the key cities of Hama and Homs and in Deraa countryside.
The rebel advance on Damascus comes after they said they had "fully liberated" the city of Homs.
housands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting "Freedom" from a half century of Assad family rule, witnesses said.
The dramatic collapse marks a seismic moment for the Middle East, ending the family's iron-fisted rule over Syria and dealing a massive blow to Russia and Iran, which have lost a key ally at the heart of the region.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability, a Reuters report said.
It marks a turning point for Syria, shattered by more than 13 years of war which has turned cities to rubble, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and forced millions abroad as refugees.
Western governments, which have shunned the Assad-led state for years, must decide how to deal with a new administration in which a globally designated terrorist group - Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - looks set to have influence, Reuters said.
HTS, which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria, was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016.
"The real question is how orderly will this transition be, and it seems quite clear that Golani is very eager for it to be an orderly one," said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Golani will not want a repeat of the chaos that swept Iraq after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. "They are going to have to rebuild ... they will need Europe and the US to lift sanctions," Landis said.
HTS is Syria's strongest rebel group.
