Syrian government falls to lightning rebel offensive as Assad flees
It sent crowds into the streets to celebrate the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule.
The Syrian government has collapsed, falling to a lightning rebel offensive that seized control of the capital Damascus and sent crowds into the streets to celebrate the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule.
Syrian state television aired a video statement early on Sunday by a group of men saying President Bashar Assad had been overthrown and all detainees in jails had been set free.
The man who read the statement said the opposition group known as Operations Room to Conquer Damascus has called on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state”.
The statement emerged hours after the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Mr Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus following a remarkably swift advance across the country.
Many of the capital’s residents were in disbelief at the speed at which Mr Assad lost his hold after nearly 14 years of civil war.
As daylight broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to pray in the city’s mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting “God is great”. People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked car horns.
Soldiers and police officers left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence. Videos from Damascus show families wandering into the presidential palace, with some emerging carrying stacks of plates and other household items.
