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BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday, bringing a surprise end to the Assad family's 50-year rule, after a sudden rebel offensive advanced across government-held territory and entered the capital inside 10 days.
Syrian state television broadcast a video statement from a bunch of men saying President Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown and that each one prison inmates had been released.
The man who read the statement said the opposition group Operations Room to Conquer Damascus called on all opposition fighters and residents to preserve the state institutions of the “free Syrian state.”
The statement got here hours after the pinnacle of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country for an unknown location, fleeing insurgents who said that they had entered Damascus after the remarkably rapid advance through 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 duties 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 fled.
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 primary supporter throughout the war years in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. Qatari news channel Al Jazeera was quoted as providing the knowledge without elaborating.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.
As day broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to hope in town's mosques and have a good time in its squares, chanting “God is great.” People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked their horns. In some areas, celebratory shots were fired.
Soldiers and police abandoned their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Defense Ministry headquarters.
“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. “After the fear in which he (Assad) and his father made us live for many years, and the panic and state of terror in which I lived, I cannot believe it.”
Daher said his father was killed by security forces and his brother was in custody, but his fate was unknown. Assad “is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog,” he said.
“Damned be his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif, one other reveler in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God has answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God we did.”
The police headquarters within the capital gave the impression to be deserted, the door was open and nobody was outside. An Associated Press journalist captured footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms lay on the bottom beneath a poster with Assad's face. Footage broadcast by opposition-affiliated media showed a tank in one in all the capital's central squares.
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 that they had 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 positioning of a strategic Russian naval base.
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 southern a part of the country and other areas, including several provincial capitals, remained under the control of opposition fighters.
The advances last week were by far the most important in years by opposition factions led by a bunch 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.
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 primary international backer, said he felt “compassion for the Syrian people.”
In Damascus, people rushed to fill up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon and tried to go away the country. Lebanese border officials closed the primary 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 reminiscent of sugar. Some were selling items for 3 times the traditional price.
The United Nations said it was moving non-critical personnel in a foreign country as a precaution.
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 at last 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.”
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 non secular 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.
Since the conflict began in March 2011, the Syrian government has described armed opposition members as terrorists.
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 deal with 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.
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