By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE of the Associated Press
BEIRUT Following a swift rebel attack that swept across government-held territory and invaded the capital in ten days, the Syrian government looked to have fallen early Sunday, marking a dramatic end to the Assad family’s 50-year rule.
President Bashar Assad fled Syria for an undisclosed location, according to the leader of an opposition war monitor. Insurgents claimed to have infiltrated Damascus after the impressively rapid advance across the country.
According to Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, the government is prepared to reach out to the opposition and hand over its operations to a transitional administration.
at a video statement, Jalili stated, “I am in my home and I have not left, and this is because I belong to this country.” He urged Syrians not to vandalize public property and stated that he will return to his office to finish his duties in the morning.
Reports that Assad had departed the country were not addressed by him.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ Rami Abdurrahman told The Associated Press that Assad flew from Damascus on Sunday.
Iran, Assad’s primary supporter during the Syrian war, said on state television that Assad had fled the capital. It did not provide further details, instead citing the report from Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network.
The Syrian government did not immediately issue a statement.
In Damascus’ principal squares, Syrians gathered in large numbers to celebrate while yelling anti-Assad slogans and blasting their car horns. There were jubilant gunshots in some places.
A 29-year-old lawyer named Omar Daher said, “My feelings are indescribable.” I can’t believe it, especially after the years of dread and worry that Assad and his father had us to endure.
According to Daher, his brother was detained and his whereabouts were unknown, while his father had been assassinated by security agents. He called Assad a dog, a despot, and a criminal.
Ghazal al-Sharif, another partygoer in the heart of Damascus, remarked, “Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family.” Every persecuted person prays for this, and God heard it today. Thank God, we were able to witness it even though we had assumed we would never.
Along the road on the outskirts of the capital, an Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported hearing gunfire and seeing groups of armed citizens. With its entrance ajar and no cops outside, the city’s main police station looked deserted. An abandoned army roadblock with uniforms thrown on the ground beneath a poster of Assad’s face was captured on camera by another AP reporter.
People in the capital said they heard explosions and gunfire. Media outlets with ties to the opposition aired footage of a tank in one of the capital’s main squares as a small crowd gathered to celebrate. There are loud calls to God coming from mosques.
It was the first time opposition forces had made it to Damascus since Syrian army retook parts of the capital’s environs after a siege that lasted for years in 2018.
All flights were suspended and the Damascus airport was evacuated, according to the pro-government Sham FM radio station.
Additionally, the rebels declared that they had rescued their detainees from the infamous Saydnaya military prison, which is located north of the capital.
Government soldiers left the major city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, to opposition fighters the previous evening. The city is situated at a crucial crossroads between Syria’s capital, Damascus, and the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, which are home to a Russian key naval station and serve as the Syrian leader’s base of support.
In a rapid onslaught that started on Nov. 27, the rebels had already taken control of the southern regions and the towns of Hama and Aleppo. Control of Homs by rebels would be revolutionary, according to analysts.
Following the Syrian army’s withdrawal from a large portion of the country’s south, which left more regions—including multiple province capitals—under the control of opposition forces, the rebels moved into Damascus.
They were by far the biggest opposition groupings in recent years, headed by a group that the United States and the United Nations consider to be a terrorist organization and has roots in al-Qaida. The Syrian army has not put up much of a fight against the militants, who are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, in their attempt to topple Assad’s regime.
In order to guarantee a smooth political transition, Geir Pedersen, the U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, urged for immediate negotiations in Geneva on Saturday. “The situation in Syria is changing by the minute,” he told reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, which is the main international supporter of Assad, expressed sympathy for the Syrian people.
People hurried to stockpile goods in Damascus. In an attempt to flee Syria, thousands traveled to the country’s border with Lebanon. Many people were left waiting as Lebanese border officials shuttered the major Masnaa border crossing late Saturday.
According to a citizen who spoke to The Associated Press, many stores in the capital were closed, and those that remained ran out of necessities like sugar. Some were charging three times the going rate for their goods.
As a precaution, the U.N. announced that it was relocating noncritical personnel abroad.
Assad s status
Syria’s official media disputed reports on social media that Assad had left the nation, claiming he was in Damascus carrying out his duties.
His allies have offered him little to no assistance. Russia is occupied with the conflict in Ukraine. A year-long war with Israel has crippled Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one stage dispatched thousands of militants to support Assad’s forces. Regular Israeli bombings have damaged Iran’s proxies throughout the region.
Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, stated on social media on Saturday that the US should refrain from using force in Syria. The national security adviser for President Joe Biden stated separately that the Biden administration has no plans to become involved in the situation.
A date for Geneva discussions on implementing a 2015 U.N. resolution that calls for a Syrian-led political process will be announced later, according to Pedersen. According to the resolution, a transitional governmental body should be established, a new constitution should be drafted, and then elections overseen by the UN should take place.
Along with Pederson, foreign ministers and top diplomats from eight major nations—including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran—met on the fringes of the Doha Summit later Saturday to talk about the Syrian crisis.
The participants expressed their support in a declaration for a political resolution to the Syrian crisis that would stop military action and safeguard people.
The insurgents’ march
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, an insurgent commander, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have surrounded Damascus, starting the last phase of their offensive.
In order to manage daily operations in the area, HTS established a salvation government in 2017 and now governs a large portion of northwest Syria. has worked to restore the group’s reputation in recent years by severing its connections with al-Qaida, firing hard-line leaders, and pledging to support religious tolerance and plurality.
The largest city in Syria, Aleppo, in the north, and the fourth-largest city in the country, Hama, in the center, were taken by gunmen during the shock offensive, which started on November 27.
Since the crisis began in March 2011, the Syrian government has called opposition gunmen terrorists.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s top ambassador, chastised Assad for not addressing the fundamental issues facing the nation during the recent break in hostilities. He claimed that Assad missed this chance to begin interacting with and mending his relationship with his people.
____
From London, Karam reported. This report was written by Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Abby Sewell in Beirut; and Abdulrahman Shaheen and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
+ There are no comments
Add yours