It’s all over but the shouting. Assad is gone. What’s ahead though is unknown, but hopeful.
President Bashar al-Assad fled to an unknown destination as rebels basically walk into Damascus with citizens cheering.
Here is a Syria Live Update courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.
Syrian rebels said they had freed the capital, Damascus, from President Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship after a week of stunning military advances against his forces. Assad fled in the early hours of Sunday local time to an unknown destination, Syrian security officials said.
The rebels: Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, one of the largest rebel groups mounting the offensive against Assad.
Reactions: Residents in Damascus and Homs celebrated in the streets, as some Syrians who supported the rebellion against Assad claimed victory.
What’s next: Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people.
Raed Al Saleh, head of the White Helmets, an independent Syrian rescue organization that has led evacuation and rescue efforts in opposition areas for years, said the group would provide emergency relief to families across the country and “help them shake off the dust of war.”
“The chemical regime, the criminal Assad regime has fallen, fallen, fallen,” Saleh said in a video posted on X. “The Syria of peace and civilization will return to you.”
Many Syrians around the world celebrated the entry of rebels into the country’s capital, Damascus, as a victory in a long campaign for greater freedoms after a harsh crackdown that followed a 2011 uprising against the Assad regime.
“I don’t cry often but I cry today,” said Zaher Sahloul, a Syrian-American doctor based in Chicago and co-founder of MedGlobal, a charity providing medical aid in conflict zones, including Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere. “This is a monumental day to all Syrians and people who’ve been watching what’s going on in my homeland for the past 14 years or so, from the beginning of this crisis, when the Syrian people went into the streets asking for freedom and for change of the regime that has been ruling Syria.”
Syrians Celebrate
Syrians celebrated the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus early Sunday local time.
Five Things to Know
1. Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, one of the largest rebel groups mounting the offensive against the Assad regime.
2. He broke with Islamic State in 2012 and cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016; since then, he has fought both organizations in bloody campaigns.
3. The 42-year-old Jawlani has turned the Islamist group, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, into a disciplined fighting force, with an ideology that blends Islamism and nationalism.
4. After the lightning offensive that saw Jawlani’s forces seize Aleppo, he issued edicts to his Sunni group, ordering the protection of Christians and Shiites, and demanding that his men not exact retribution. “In the future Syria, we believe that diversity is our strength, not a weakness,” he said.
5. It is unclear to what extent Jawlani’s transformation is genuine, and to what extent his appeals to moderation are designed to lull other Syrians and the West into complacency as he pursues his quest to replace the Assad regime.
The above five things according to the Wall Street Journal.
What’s Next?
CBS News reports
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said early Sunday that the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
I would like to see rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani announce elections a year from now or so.
And we can all hope point number four above is accurate.
Those interested in the background of this story and all the forces involved, please see The Complicated Syria Civil War Mess, What’s Going On?
Syrian Government forces, Turkey, the US, Iran, ISIS remnants, Lebanon, Iran, Russia, and the Kurds are all involved with intertwined and conflicting goals.