The Syrian government collapsed early Sunday after rebels invaded the capital Damascus, ending the Assad family's 50-year rule in the war-torn country.
The rebels' victory ended a 10-day offensive as warplanes raced across the country, seizing much of what had been government-held territory, including the cities of Aleppo and Hama and, the night before, the central city of Homs.
President Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown and all those held in prison have been released, a statement read by a group of men on Syrian state television said.
The statement announced “the liberation of the city of Damascus, the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the release of all oppressed prisoners from the regime's prisons,” the New York Times reported. reported.
According to reports, Assad fled the capital before rebel fighters entered the capital. Hours earlier, the Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country to an undisclosed location.
Iranian state media reported, citing Qatar's Al Jazeera news agency, that President Assad had left the capital. Iran is President Assad's main supporter in the Syrian civil war. Russia's Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that Assad had resigned and left Syria after consultations with “several parties to the armed conflict,” The Times reported. reported.
Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Associated Press that Assad boarded a plane from Damascus on Sunday.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali said in a video statement that his government was ready to “reach out” to the rebels and hand over their functions to the interim government.
“I stay at home and don't go out, because I belong to this country,” Jalili said, adding that he would go to his office in the morning to continue working, and told Syrians that public property should not be stolen. I asked them not to contaminate it. .
On Sunday, citizens took to the streets to celebrate, and many gathered to pray at mosques, according to the Associated Press. Looters broke into the Ministry of Defense headquarters as soldiers and police fled their posts. Police headquarters also appear to have been abandoned, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed.
