Key Points
- Syrian rebels have declared the country “free” after they took control of the capital, Damascus.
- Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow.
- Syrian refugees around the world are celebrating the fall of the Assad government.
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria as rebels swept into Damascus on Sunday, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule.
Around the country, people toppled statues of Hafez al-Assad, Assad’s father and the founder of the system of government that he inherited.
For the past 50 years in Syria, even the slightest suspicion of dissent could land one in prison or get one killed.
As rebels entered the capital, its fighters broke into a jail on the outskirts of Damascus, announcing an “end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya”, which has become a byword for the darkest abuses of Assad’s era.
Bewildered and elated inmates poured out of jails after rebels blasted away locks on their cells. Reunited families wept and wailed in joy.
“How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?” the top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani told a huge crowd at the medieval Umayyad Mosque in central Damascus, referring to refugees who died trying to reach Europe.
“A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory,” he said.
In a message to residents of a Christian town south of Aleppo, Golani said they would be protected and their property safeguarded.
‘We declare the city of Damascus free’
Crowds ransacked Assad’s luxurious home after the rebels earlier declared he had fled, in a spectacular end to five decades of brutal Baath Party rule.
The foreign ministry of his key backer, Russia, had announced earlier that Assad resigned from the presidency and left Syria without saying where.
Russian news agencies said on late Sunday Assad and his family were in Moscow and were given asylum.
Russian news agencies said Assad and his family were in Moscow and had been granted asylum. Source: AAP / Novosti Kremlin
Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets as the rebel factions heralded the departure of “tyrant” Assad, saying: “We declare the city of Damascus free.”
Footage from news agency Agence France-Presse showed a column of smoke rising from central Damascus, and AFP correspondents in the city saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad’s home after it had been looted.
“I can’t believe I’m living this moment,” tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha said.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this day,” he said, adding: “We are starting a new history for Syria.”
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad’s departure has triggered celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule. Source: AFP / Mohammed Al-Rifai
Assad’s departure comes less than two weeks after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group .
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”.
The head of war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, said, “Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left” the facility.
United Nations war crimes investigators on Sunday described Assad’s fall as a “historic new beginning” for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the “atrocities” committed under his rule are not repeated.
Reactions around the world
Thousands of jubilant Syrians rallied in Berlin and cities across Europe, waving flags and barely able to contain their joy at the downfall of Assad.
“Finally, we are free!” exclaimed Bassam Al-Hamada, 39, among 5,000 people at an exuberant rally in the capital of Germany, where the one million-plus Syrians make it the largest diaspora in Europe.
Syrians in Athens, Belgrade, Istanbul, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Vienna also waved flags in the green, red, black and white colours of the Syrian opposition and made clear their hostility to Assad.
Hundreds of ecstatic Syrians celebrated the fall of Assad on London’s Trafalgar Square, hugging each other and chanting “Mabrouk!” (Congratulations!).
Syrians living in Berlin gather in Oranienplatz Square, Kreuzberg, to celebrate the overthrow of the 61-year Baath Party rule in Syria with the Syrian opposition’s “revolution flag”. Source: Anadolu / Getty Images
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Assad must finally be held accountable for his actions.
“It is impossible to say exactly what is happening in Syria now, but one thing is clear: for millions of people in Syria, the end of Assad means the first big sigh of relief after an eternity of atrocities committed by the Assad regime,” she said.
In Jordan, King Abdullah said his country respected the choices of the Syrian people. He urged the avoidance of any conflict in Syria that might lead to chaos and stressed the need to protect the security of Jodran’s northern neighbour, according to a statement.
The UN envoy for Syria said the country was at “a watershed moment”, while Turkey, which has historically backed the opposition, called for a “smooth transition”.
Iran, a key backer of Assad throughout the civil war, said it expected “friendly” ties with Syria to continue, even as its embassy in Damascus was vandalised.
In a statement, United States President Joe Biden said he welcomes the collapse of Assad’s regime but warned of potential uncertainty.
“It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country,” he said.
“It’s also a moment of risk and uncertainty as we all turn to the question of what comes next.”
US president-elect Donald Trump said Assad had “fled his country” after losing Russia’s backing.
‘We’re going home’
Rebel factions aired a statement on Syrian state television, urging fighters and citizens to safeguard the “property of the free Syrian state”.
State TV broadcast a message proclaiming the “victory of the great Syrian revolution”.
Before Sunday’s announcements, residents had described a state of panic in Damascus, but morning saw chants and cheering, with celebratory gunfire and shouts of “Syria is ours and not the Assad family’s”.
Since the start of the rebel offensive, at least 910 people, mostly combatants but also including 138 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said.
Syria’s civil war killed more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.
“I can barely remember Syria,” said Reda al-Khedr, who was only five years old when he and his mother escaped Homs in 2014.
“But now we’re going to go home to a liberated Syria,” he said from Cairo.
