BEIRUT – The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday, bringing a surprise end to the Assad family's 50-year rule after a lightning rebel offensive.
The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar al-Assad had left the country for an unknown location, fleeing insurgents who said they’d entered Damascus after a surprising advance across the country.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the federal government was able to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to an interim government.
“I am in my house and I have not left it, and that is because I belong to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office within the morning to proceed his work and urged Syrian residents to not deface public property.
He didn’t address reports that Assad had left the country.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus on Sunday.
Iranian state television, Assad's fundamental supporter through the war years in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. Qatari news channel Al Jazeera was quoted as providing the data without elaborating.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.
An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road on the sting of the capital and hearing gunfire. The city's fundamental police headquarters seemed to be deserted, with the door open and no officers outside. Another AP journalist captured footage from an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms lay on the bottom beneath a poster with Assad's face.
Residents of the capital reported hearing gunshots and explosions. Footage broadcast on opposition-affiliated media showed a tank in one in all the capital's central squares as a small group of individuals gathered to have fun. Cries of “God is great” rang out from mosques.
It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital after a years-long siege.
Pro-government radio station Sham FM reported that Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights had been suspended.
The insurgents also announced that they’d entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “freed” their prisoners there.
The night before, opposition forces had captured the central city of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, after government troops abandoned it. The city lies at a key junction between the capital Damascus and the Syrian coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the bottom of the Syrian leader and the location of a strategic Russian naval base.
The government denied rumors that Assad had fled the country.
Sham FM reported that government troops had taken up positions outside Homs, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of varied security agencies had withdrawn from town, adding that rebels had entered parts of town.
The insurgents announced later Saturday that they’d taken over Homs. The rebels had already captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama in addition to large parts of the south in a lightning offensive that began on November twenty seventh. Analysts said rebel control of Homs can be a game-changer.
The rebels' entry into Damascus got here after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the country's south and other areas, including several provincial capitals, remained under the control of opposition fighters.
After the autumn of Damascus, government troops would only have control of two of the 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.
The advances last week were by far the most important in years by opposition factions led by a gaggle that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. In their push to topple Assad's government, the insurgents led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) faced little resistance from the Syrian army.
The rebels' rapid victories and lack of support from Assad's former allies posed the most important threat to his rule because the war began.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called on Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters on the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is Assad's fundamental international backer, said he felt “compassion for the Syrian people.”
In Damascus, people rushed to refill on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon and tried to depart the country. Lebanese border officials closed the fundamental Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many individuals waiting.
Many shops within the capital were closed, a resident told The Associated Press, and people still open were running out of staples similar to sugar. Some were selling items for thrice the traditional price.
The United Nations said it was moving non-critical personnel in a foreign country as a precaution.
Assad's status
Syrian state media denied social media rumors that Assad had left the country, saying he was carrying out his duties in Damascus.
He received little to no help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which once sent 1000’s of fighters to support Assad's forces, has been weakened by years of conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes.
US President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media on Saturday that the United States should avoid military involvement in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.
Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on implementing a 2015 U.N. resolution calling for a Syrian-led political process can be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of an interim governing body, followed by the drafting of a brand new structure and eventually elections supervised by the United Nations.
Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, met with Pederson on the sidelines of the Doha summit to debate the situation in Syria.
In a press release, participants reiterated their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to an end to military activities and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to extend assistance to the Syrian people.
The march of the insurgents
Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters marched toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added.
An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun the “final phase” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.
HTS controls much of northwest Syria and established a “salvation government” in 2017 to administer day-to-day affairs within the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to reshape the group's image by cutting ties with al-Qaeda, abandoning hardline officials and embracing pluralism and spiritual tolerance.
The shock offensive began on November twenty seventh. Gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and the central city of Hama, the country's fourth largest city.
Opposition activists said Saturday that insurgents had entered Palmyra a day earlier, home to invaluable archaeological sites which have been in government hands since they were kidnapped by the Islamic State group in 2017.
In the south, Syrian troops abandoned much of Quneitra province, including the capital Baath City, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory said government troops had withdrawn from large parts of the 2 southern provinces.
The Syrian army said in a press release that it had regrouped and repositioned in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints were attacked by “terrorists.” The army said it was constructing a “strong and coherent defense and security belt in the region,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.
The Syrian government has described armed opposition members as terrorists because the conflict broke out in March 2011.
Diplomacy in Doha
Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to reap the benefits of the lull in fighting lately to handle the country's underlying problems. “Assad has not taken advantage of this opportunity to engage with his people and restore relations with them,” he said.
Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised at how quickly the rebels had advanced and said there was an actual threat to Syria's “territorial integrity.” He said war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process.
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