Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled the country as a rebel, and the Syrian army announced the end of his 24-year regime on Sunday.
Syrian rebels announce sudden fall of regime on state TV, Reuters reported. The newspaper reported, citing a Syrian military officer, that the Syrian military command had also informed its officers of the end of the regime.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the stage of struggle to build together a Syria worthy of the sacrifices of its people,” the rebels reportedly announced.
The newspaper said the rebels entered Damascus without encountering military resistance. Residents were also reported to have entered the Al-Rawda presidential palace and removed furniture.
The rebels also reportedly released prisoners from Sednaya Prison, a notorious military prison branded a “human slaughterhouse” about 30 miles north of Damascus. According to To Amnesty International.
President Assad left Damascus by air early Sunday for an unknown destination, two senior military officials told Reuters. The Syrian Airlines plane reportedly took off around the time Damascus airport fell into rebel hands, but the identities of the passengers were not immediately disclosed to Reuters.
According to Reuters, Russia's Foreign Ministry announced that President Assad left Syria after ordering a peaceful transition of power. The whereabouts of President Assad's family remain unknown.
According to the newspaper, Syrian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghazi al-Jalali then called for free elections and handed power to Abu Mohamed al-Golani, head of the opposition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). He said he contacted him to discuss the matter.
Video leaked online showing people celebrating the overthrow of President Assad within Including outside Syria in germany and England (Related: US ambassador to Syria: Bashar al-Assad is evil)
Syrian Christians celebrate the fall of Assad's regime in front of churches under Christmas trees and ringing bells.
They chant:
“The Syrian people are united, we are one people.” pic.twitter.com/WOV95Kj1hm
— Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) December 8, 2024
Celebrations are being held in Manchester after rebel forces claimed to have seized the capital Damascus and overthrown the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr. Skye @lottyleeming report
Live updates: https://t.co/MW9zc1U42f
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233, YouTube pic.twitter.com/OFJAk1JUPc
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 8, 2024
Daniel Shapiro, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East affairs, said Sunday that the United States would maintain a presence in eastern Syria due to concerns about a possible resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the newspaper reported.
“Mr. Assad is gone. He fled the country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was no longer interested in protecting him,” President-elect Donald Trump said. I wrote Sunday Truth Social.
Mr. Tamp's social media post follows earlier posts calling for the United States not to intervene in the situation.
President Trump: “Syria is in chaos, but it's not our friend'' said Late Saturday.
“Many of the 'rebels' are literally offshoots of ISIS. You can expect them to host. Only time will tell.” said Vice President-elect J.D. Vance;
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should not get involved in it.
Apart from that, the following opinions are disturbing. The last time this man was celebrating events in Syria, we witnessed a genocide of Christians and a refugee crisis destabilizing Europe. https://t.co/rUsbudKtZP
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 8, 2024
“Today is a historic day for the Middle East. The fall of the tyrannical Assad regime in Damascus offers great opportunities, but also grave dangers,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. said.
Today is a historic day for the Middle East. The fall of the tyrannical Assad regime in Damascus presents great opportunities, but also grave dangers.
We want all the people across the border in Syria: the Druze, the Kurds, and… pic.twitter.com/yJZE3AZZJn
– Benjamin Netanyahu December 8, 2024
United Nations Commission of Inquiry into Syria explained The expulsion marks a “historic new beginning” for Syria.
Members of the Syrian community gather to celebrate the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the face of attacks by Islamist-led rebels in Istanbul's Fatih district on December 8, 2024. Supporters. December 8, 2024 in Istanbul's Fatih district. Islamist-led rebels have overthrown Syria's longtime ruler Bashar. President al-Assad's blitzkrieg has left the country with a civil war that the UN envoy called a “watershed moment”. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN/AFP via Getty Images)
HTS, designated a terrorist organization by the US, Russia and Turkey, launches 13-day blitzkrieg to topple Assad regime, 26 November Reuters reported. The group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, reportedly had ties to al-Qaeda until severing ties in 2016.
The Syrian National Army, another Turkish-backed rebel group, also launched another offensive. On November 29-30, both groups captured the city of Aleppo from government forces for the first time since 2016. This caused the biggest escalation of conflict since the civil war that followed the Arab Spring uprising against Assad in Syria in 2011, it said. Exit.
Afterwards, the rebel army swept into Hama city. captured Homs, a strategic city before the fall of Damascus.
President Assad used chemical weapons against Syrians in 2013 and 2017 during the Arab Spring protests and civil war in the country, Reuters reported. reported. President Barack Obama infamously set a “red line” against a chemical attack on Syria in 2012, but failed to respond to the 2013 chemical attack.
Trump has denounced Assad as an “animal” and fired cruise missiles at him in response to the 2017 attack. The perception that the United States failed to respond decisively to the 2013 chemical attack drew sharp criticism from President Trump.
Russia helped support the Assad regime when it intervened in Syria's civil war in 2015, but has had a limited response to the rebels' recent air attacks during the war in Ukraine. As President Assad belongs to the Shiite Alawite sect of Islam, Iran-linked militias, including Hezbollah, also supported the Assad regime. However, Hezbollah had been weakened by Israeli airstrikes and could not provide significant support to Assad in this case.
Mr Assad trained as an ophthalmologist in Britain and became president in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez.
