Bashar al-Assad flees country as opposition forces take charge

People gather to celebrate the fall of the government, in Manbij, Syria, on Sunday. Pic/AP

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has flown out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, Reuters reported. The news agency cited two senior army officers, whom it did not name as rebels Syrian groups said they entered the capital, Damascus, in the early hours today.

The development comes hours after rebels claimed to have captured Syria's third-largest city, Homs, to the north of the country.

Crowds of Syrians have gathered to celebrate in the central squares of Damascus, chanting anti-Assad slogans and honking car horns. In some areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.

"My feelings are indescribable," said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. "After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can't believe it." Daher said his father had been killed by security forces and his brother was in detention, his fate unknown. "Assad is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog," he said.

All prisoners freed

Syrian state TV aired a video statement by a group of men saying that all prisoners have been set free. The man who read a statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of "the free Syrian state".
‘Russia abandoned Assad'

US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said Assad's protector, Russia "was not interested in protecting him any longer". In a post on social media platform Truth Social, Trump also wrote that Russia "lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead".

Israeli troops in buffer zone

The Israel Defense Forces announced the deployment of forces to Israel's buffer zone with Syria. "In light of the events in Syria and based on an assessment of the situation and the possibility of armed men entering the buffer zone, the IDF deployed forces in the buffer zone and at several defensive points in order to ensure the security of the residents of the Golan Heights towns and the citizens of the State of Israel," Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee said.

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