The president Bashar Assad resigned and left Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday (8). The longtime dictator’s downfall came after rebels opposing his government invaded the country and took control of the capital in less than two weeks.
The foreign ministry statement offered no details on Assad’s exact whereabouts, saying only that he had held talks with “various parties to the armed conflict.”
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian presidency on Assad.
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Assad’s departure was a historic moment in the history of Syria, which has been ruled by his family with an iron fist since the early 1970s. It marked a dramatic breakthrough for rebel factions in Syria who have been trying to depose Assad for more than decade, much of it marked by a devastating civil war.
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For many in Syria, Assad’s fall was a moment of hope, as they no longer feared the regime that used oppressive tactics to stifle their freedoms. But it was also fraught with uncertainty over who will rule Syria next and raised fears of a power vacuum in a country that has been divided by competing factions fighting for control of different swathes of territory.
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“Our hearts are dancing with joy,” said Walaa Salameh, 35, a resident of the Damascus area, in a telephone interview. “We cannot predict the future, and anything is possible, but the most important thing is that we free ourselves from this oppressive regime.”
Earlier on Sunday, the main rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Shamhad announced on its Telegram channel that it had taken the capital, Damascus, and that Syrian forces were withdrawing. He later said that Assad had fallen and that Damascus was “free from the tyrant.”
The events capped an astonishing two weeks in which the coalition of rebel groups, which had been confined to a small corner of northwestern Syria, swept through the country’s major cities, breaking a stalemate in Syria’s 13-year civil war.
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As reports spread of Syrian government troops fleeing their posts and stripping off their uniforms, the sounds of gunfire erupted in Damascus before dawn on Sunday, witnesses said. By late morning, the streets were largely empty, but the sound of gunfire still echoed.
“No one should shed tears for the fall of the Assad regime,” he said Daniel B. ShapiroDeputy Assistant Secretary of Defense of the USA to the Middle East, in Bahrain, before the Russian Foreign Ministry issued the statement.
Amid questions about Assad’s whereabouts, the Syrian prime minister, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalalisaid he hadn’t spoken to him since Saturday. Ghazi stated that he would stay in the country and was ready to work with whoever Syrians chose as their leader.
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Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said he would work with Ghazi and called on Syrian military forces in Damascus to stay away from public institutions, which he said would remain under Ghazi’s supervision until they were formally handed over.
Who are the rebels?
The head of the Islamist group that leads the main rebel coalition said in an interview with the New York Times last week that the fighters aim to depose Assad.
First, the rebels took Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, and then, days later, they advanced through Hama and the strategic city of Homs, on their way to the capital.
His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 but is still designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Reaction in Damascus
Three civilians in the capital told the Times they heard gunshots in the city overnight. It was unclear who was shooting. One resident said the gunfire appeared to celebrate the rebels’ advance and that some people were dancing in the streets.
Amid the celebration, Syrians were also mourning everything they lost over 13 years of civil war.
Assad’s allies
Assad has kept rebel forces at bay for more than a decade with military support from Iran and Russia. But in recent days, Iran and Russia appeared to be turning to diplomacy to preserve their interests in the country rather than offering significant military support.
Freed prisoners
As the rebels advanced, they seized many of the notorious prisons where the Assad regime imprisoned, tortured and executed political prisoners for decades.
Videos emerging north of Damascus show groups of men walking through the city’s streets at night, reportedly after being released from Sednaya Prison, which rebels have seized, according to war monitors and fighters.
Refugees look to their homeland
Some Syrian refugees around the world were glued to the news for updates on whether the Assad regime had fallen. Muhammad al-Shammary, who fled the suburbs of Damascus for Turkey in 2013, said he hoped to return to the country as soon as it was safe and feasible to do so.
He hasn’t seen most of his family members — including brothers and brothers-in-law — in more than a decade. Many Syrian refugees have resigned themselves to a life in exile, said Shammary, 44. “They engraved this in our minds: that they would rule forever,” he said.
Wider instability
Israel’s army said it had entered a demilitarized buffer zone in territory it controls in the Golan Heights, adjacent to Syria.
The Israeli army, concerned about the sudden increase in instability near its borders, said it was acting to protect Israeli civilians.
Iraq has reinforced its border with Syria, according to the Official Iraqi News Agency, which said on Sunday that the al-Qaim border crossing was closed.
