Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the country after a stunning rebel offensive that captured the capital, Damascus, and overthrew a dynasty that had ruled for 50 years.
In a jubilant atmosphere on Sunday, rebels declared that “the city of Damascus has escaped the rule of tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and that “Assad has fled” after factions surrounded the capital.
Russia, a long-time supporter of Assad’s regime, said the Syrian president had resigned, left the country and ordered a peaceful transition of power. Russia’s state news agency TASS later said he and his family had arrived in Moscow, where they had been granted asylum.
“The future is ours,” victorious Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani said in a statement read on Syrian state television.
HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, led disparate rebel factions in a 12-day lightning offensive that brought the Assad dynasty to an ignominious end and shook the region. Last week, the group captured Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, in 48 hours before quickly advancing south toward the capital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed “a historic day in the history of the Middle East” but sent tanks and infantry into the demilitarized buffer zone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
Netanyahu said the 1974 ceasefire “collapsed” after Syrian troops abandoned their positions and that Israeli forces needed to “ensure that no hostile forces take root near Israel’s borders.”
US President-elect Donald Trump wrote in a social media post: “Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, is no longer interested in protecting him.” He added: “Russia and Iran are currently in a weak position, and one is Because of Ukraine and the bad economy, the other is because of Israel and its battle victories.”
In Damascus, rebel factions on Sunday had tried to enforce law and order, imposing a curfew, warning of legal penalties for theft and wrongful shooting, taking over ministries and inserting police amid widespread looting.
Asked by the Financial Times about media access to the city after the curfew, it was pointed to a new Ministry of Transport building where rebel media officials have set up offices.
Jolani said he was working to ensure an orderly transition and announced that Syria’s state institutions would remain under the supervision of Assad’s appointed prime minister until the handover.
Near the city’s Umayyad Square, thousands of shell casings – the remnants of celebratory gunfire – littered the streets. In the evening, shelling and sporadic gunfire could still be heard in central Damascus.
“I couldn’t believe it. Everyone was in the streets, everyone was shouting,” said Damascus resident Abdullah. “This is something historic. No one has suffered more than the Syrian people.
Footage sent to the Financial Times by a Damascus resident showed people rummaging through boxes and smashing photos of the Assad family inside the presidential palace.
On Sunday morning, a man in civilian clothes appeared on Syrian state television to claim that rebels had “liberated” Damascus and released detainees from “regime prisons.”
While the news sparked celebrations across Syria, it also comes at a time of great uncertainty for the country, which is shattered by 13 years of civil war, and for the wider region.
The country borders Türkiye, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. HTS has been working with Turkish-backed rebels who operate under the protection of the Syrian National Army.
However, there are many factions in Syria, and the degree of coordination between them is unclear.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed the end of Assad’s regime on Sunday but also warned Ankara about “Islamic State and other terrorist groups…”. . . This process will be used.”
An Arab diplomat said regional powers including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Russia and Qatar had agreed to coordinate efforts to stabilize the situation.
As rebels entered the Damascus palace, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he was ready to work with any leader elected by the people and called for unity.
“We are ready to cooperate and all the property of the people and the institutions of the Syrian state must be protected,” he said. “They belong to all Syrians.”
Multiple explosions were heard in the city around 4:30 pm on Sunday, with black smoke billowing from above. At least some attacks of unknown origin have hit the Syrian security complex.
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Assad, a London-trained ophthalmologist, has ruled Syria since succeeding his late father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000. In 2011, his troops brutally suppressed a popular uprising and civil war broke out.
He managed to retain power with the support of Iran and Russia, which provided significant air power. In recent years, his regime has regained control of much of the country.
But he presides over a hollowed-out, bankrupt state that even many in his own Alawite community appear to have abandoned after years of conflict and economic hardship.
When HTS launched its offensive on November 27, regime forces appeared to be unraveling, with Russia, Iran, and the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah all distracted by their own conflicts.
The rebels’ success is a humiliating blow for Iran, whose support for Assad has created a “land bridge” across Syria to Lebanon, home to its most important proxy, Hezbollah.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday urged respect for Syria’s “territorial integrity” and called on the Arab country to “immediately end the military conflict.”
It is also a setback for Russia, which gained access to Mediterranean air and naval bases after entering the war in 2015.
On Sunday, Russia said its military bases in Syria were on “high alert.” Moscow said there was “no serious threat to their security,” but Russian military blogs said they were preparing to evacuate the Khmeimim air base and Tartus naval base.
John Foreman, the former British military attache in Moscow, said the loss of these bases would be a “major strategic reversal” for Russia. Without these bases, “the Russian navy will have a harder time maintaining a persistent maritime presence in the Mediterranean or the Red Sea.” Challenges NATO”.
Additional reporting by Max Seddon in Berlin, John Paul Rathbone in London and Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv
Cartography by Steven Bernard
