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Rebel forces invaded Syria and captured Damascus on Sunday, bring a decades-long reign by the Assad family to an end. President Bashar Assad fled the country and relinquished the presidency, with Russian state media reporting that Assad fled to Moscow.
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, senior commander of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, claimed victory for the rebel forces that had stormed across Syria, entering Damascus overnight. Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free (per AP News.)
The statement read: “We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad. To the displaced people around the world, Free Syria awaits you.” Syrians were shown celebrating across Damascus in videos airing across social media, with crowds honked horns and waving flags. Photos and video showed people toppling statues of Hafez al-Assad, father of ousted President Bashar Al-Assad, in cities across Syria.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said in a video statement the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and turn its functions over to a transitional government: “I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” adding that he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property. He said the government is ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people.”
According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement: “As a result of negotiations between Bashar Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria; while the White House said the U.S. had no intention of intervening. President Biden said in a statement: “At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country, but it’s also a moment of risk and uncertainty as we all turn to the question of what comes next. We will engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United Nations, to establish a transition away from the Assad regime, toward independent, sovereign and independent … Syria with a new constitution, new government that serves all Syrians.”
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