Syria’s military command is telling officials that Assad’s rule is over, an official said

Written by Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Timour Azhari

AMMAN/BEIRUT – The commander of the Syrian army informed the officials that the President

Bashar al-Assad’s rule has ended following the rebel offensive, a Syrian official briefed on the move told Reuters.

Syrian rebels say Damascus is “now free from Assad”.

Assad earlier flew out of Damascus to an undisclosed destination on Sunday, two army officials told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of troops being sent.

Thousands in cars and on foot gathered in the main square in Damascus raising their hands and singing the song “Freedom”, witnesses said.

“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and the release of chains and announcing the end of the period of injustice in Sednaya prison,” the rebels said.

Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts of Damascus where the Syrian government has imprisoned thousands.

The Syrian Air flight took off from the airport in Damascus when it was reported that the capital had been taken by the rebels, according to information from the Flightradar website.

The plane initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, which is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made a U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for several minutes before disappearing from the map.

Reuters could not immediately identify who was on board.

The head of the opposition group in Syria abroad Hadi al-Bahra Syrian on Sunday also announced that Damascus is now “without Bashar al-Assad”.

Just hours earlier, rebels announced they had regained full control of the key city of Homs after just a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule hanging in the balance.

Thousands of Homs residents poured into the streets after the army withdrew from the city center, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria has ended with Bashar al-Assad”.

Rebels fired in the air in celebration, and youths tore up posters of the Syrian president, who has lost control of his territory as the army retreats for a week.

The fall of Homs gave the insurgents control of Syria’s heartland and major crossroads, cutting off Damascus from a coastal region that is a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where its Russian allies have a naval base and an air base.

The capture of Homs is also a powerful sign of the rebel movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs have been devastated by a fierce siege between rebels and the army for years. The war ended the rebels, who were forcibly expelled.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a senior rebel leader, called the capture of Homs a milestone and urged the military not to harm “those who drop their weapons”.

The rebels freed thousands of prisoners from the city jail. The security forces left in a hurry after burning their documents.

Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement on Sunday morning that operations to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus were continuing and the army was moving towards the capital.

Elsewhere, a statue of Assad’s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, was toppled and desecrated.

Outside the city, the rebels attacked the entire southwest for 24 hours and took control.

THE PRESENT THREAT OF ASSAD’S RULE

The turn of events alarmed Arab officials and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Russia issued a joint statement calling the crisis a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.

The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against the Assad regime, attracted major foreign powers, created space for jihadist terrorists to plan attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees to neighboring countries.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the most radical rebel group, is a former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria that the US and others consider a terrorist organization, and many Syrians still fear it will install a powerful Islamist regime.

Golani tried to assure the masses that he will not disturb them and the nations of the world that he opposes Islamic attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which rebels captured last week, there have been no reports of retaliation.

When asked on Saturday if he believed Golani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”.

THE ROLE OF CHILDREN IN SUPPORTING ASSAD

Assad has long relied on allies to defeat the rebels. Russian warplanes carried out bombings while Iran sent coalition forces including Hezbollah and the Iraqi army to reinforce the Syrian army and hurricanes.

But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has lost heavily in its bitter war with Israel, limiting its or Iran’s ability to bolster Assad.

US President-elect Donald Trump said the US should not get involved in the conflict and should “let it play out”.