Syrian opposition fighters have a good time after the Syrian authorities collapsed in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
Omar Sanadiki/AP/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Omar Sanadiki/AP/AP
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian authorities collapsed early Sunday, falling to a lightning insurgent offensive that seized management of the capital of Damascus and despatched crowds into the streets to have a good time the tip of the Assad household’s 50 years of iron rule.
Syrian state tv aired a video assertion by a bunch of males saying that President Bashar Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been let out.
The person who learn the assertion stated the opposition group, often known as the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, referred to as on all insurgent fighters and residents to protect the establishments of “the free Syrian state.”
The assertion emerged hours after the top of a Syrian opposition warfare monitor stated Assad had left the nation for an undisclosed location, fleeing forward of insurgents who stated they’d entered Damascus following a remarkably swift advance throughout the nation.
Most of the capital’s residents had been in disbelief on the pace at which Assad misplaced his maintain on the nation after almost 14 years of civil warfare that killed tons of of 1000’s of individuals, displaced half the nation’s prewar inhabitants of 23 million and drew in a number of international powers.
Syrians have a good time the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Dec. 8, 2024.
Omar Sanadiki/AP/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Omar Sanadiki/AP/AP
Celebrations erupt throughout the capital
As daylight broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to wish within the metropolis’s mosques and to have a good time within the squares, chanting “God is nice.” Individuals additionally chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked automotive horns.
Within the streets, teen boys picked up weapons that had apparently been discarded by safety forces and fired them within the air.
Troopers and cops left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Protection Ministry. Movies from Damascus confirmed households wandering into the presidential palace, with some rising carrying stacks of plates and different home items.
“I didn’t sleep final night time, and I refused to sleep till I heard the information of his fall,” stated Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works within the electrical energy sector. “From Idlib to Damascus, it solely took them (the opposition forces) a number of days, thank God. Might God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.”
In the meantime, organizations that had beforehand been near Assad’s authorities tried to distance themselves from it.
Syria’s al-Watan newspaper, which was traditionally pro-government, wrote: “We face a brand new web page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding extra blood. We consider and belief that Syria will probably be for all Syrians.”
The newspaper added that media staff shouldn’t be blamed for publishing authorities statements up to now.
“We solely carried out the directions and revealed the information they despatched us,” it stated. “It shortly grew to become clear now that it was false.”
A press release from the Alawite sect — to which Assad belongs and which has fashioned the core of his base — referred to as on younger Syrians to be “calm, rational and prudent and to not be dragged into what tears aside the unity of our nation.”
“We had been and nonetheless are advocates of peace and advocates of unity,” it stated. The assertion referred to as for “the language of purpose and dialogue to prevail over all events within the service of Syria and its nice folks.”
A picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad, riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial authorities workplace within the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
Omar Albam/AP/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Omar Albam/AP/AP
Assad’s whereabouts are unknown
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali stated in a video assertion that the federal government was able to “prolong its hand” to the opposition and switch its capabilities over to a transitional authorities.
He later instructed Saudi tv community Al-Arabiyya that he doesn’t know the place Assad and the protection minister are. He stated he misplaced communication with Assad late Saturday.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights instructed The Related Press that Assad took a flight Sunday from Damascus.
A senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, which had sought to rehabilitate Assad’s picture and has welcomed high-profile exiles in recent times, declined to touch upon his whereabouts when requested by reporters at a convention in Bahrain.
Anwar Gargash stated Assad’s vacation spot at this level is a “footnote in historical past,” evaluating it to the lengthy exile of German Kaiser Wilhelm II after World Battle I.
Assad has been accused of warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity through the warfare, together with a 2013 chemical weapons assault on the outskirts of the capital.
There was no rapid remark from Iran, which had been Assad’s staunchest supporter. The Iranian Embassy in Damascus was ransacked after apparently having been deserted. AP footage confirmed damaged home windows and paperwork scattered within the entryway.
Entry into Damascus caps lightning advance
Opposition forces had not reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.
The night time earlier than, opposition forces took the central metropolis of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as authorities forces deserted it. Town stands at an vital intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian chief’s base of help and residential to a Russian strategic naval base.
The rebels had already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, in addition to giant components of the south, in a fast-moving offensive that started Nov. 27.
The advances up to now week had been by far the biggest in recent times by opposition factions, led by a bunch that has its origins in al-Qaida and is taken into account a terrorist group by the US and the United Nations. Of their push to overthrow Assad’s authorities, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian military.
Syrian opposition fighters experience alongside the streets within the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
Ghaith Alsayed/AP/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ghaith Alsayed/AP/AP
U.N. requires ‘orderly transition’ because it stays unclear what comes subsequent
HTS arrange a “salvation authorities” in 2017 to manage a big area in northwestern Syria beneath its management. Lately, HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s picture, chopping ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officers and vowing to embrace pluralism and non secular tolerance.
“Golani has made historical past and sparked hope amongst tens of millions of Syrians,” stated Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser with the Worldwide Disaster Group and an skilled on Syrian teams. “However he and the rebels now face a formidable problem forward. One can solely hope they rise to the event.”
The U.N.’s particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, referred to as Saturday for pressing talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition.” Talking to reporters on the annual Doha Discussion board in Qatar, he stated the scenario in Syria was altering by the minute. Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose nation is Assad’s chief worldwide backer, stated he feels “sorry for the Syrian folks.”
The Israeli navy stated Sunday it has deployed forces in a demilitarized buffer zone alongside its northern frontier with Syria following the insurgent offensive there.
The navy, which stated it additionally despatched troops to “different locations mandatory for its protection,” stated the deployment was meant to supply safety for residents of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel captured the territory within the 1967 Mideast warfare and the worldwide neighborhood, apart from the US, views it as occupied.
