DAMASCUS: Syria’s rebels said on Sunday the leader of Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, arrived in Damascus hours after fighters seized the capital and said they ousted President Bashar al-Assad, ending his family’s 54-year rule.
On the other hand, Russia granted asylum to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family on humanitarian grounds. Russian Channel One also quoted Kremlin sources as saying that Assad and his family are in Russia.
Earlier, there were conflicting reports of Assad’s death in a plane crash. The American newspaper The New York Times reported, citing unconfirmed reports, that Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus in the early morning of December 8 via IL-76 (YK-ATA), but nothing was known about his location. According to the two-minute radar data available, Assad’s plane was seen descending continuously from an altitude of 8,725 feet. The speed of the plane was recorded from 819 kilometres per hour to 159 kilometres per hour and then this speed reached 64 kilometres per hour.
In Syria identifying the rebel leader by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, the statement on Telegram said he had “knelt down prostrating to God in thanks” on the ground after arriving in the Syrian capital. A video showed him kneeling in a field and bringing his head to the ground.
Syrians woke up to a changed country Sunday, as rebels swept into Damascus less than two weeks into a lightning offensive declaring they had toppled “tyrant” Assad.
A statement that was read on Syrian state television, which rebels took over, quoted Jolani as saying: “We continue to work with determination to achieve the goals of our revolution... We are determined to complete the path we started in 2011”.
That year, Assad cracked down on peaceful pro-democracy protesters, triggering a complex conflict that drew in foreign armies and jihadists. The televised statement said that “we will not stop fighting until all the rights of the great Syrian people are secured. The future is ours and we are moving towards victory.”
“As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to resign from the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching into a succession of cities as frontlines crumbled.
Earlier, there was no official announcement on Sunday of the whereabouts of Assad’s wife Asma or their children, the eldest of whom has long studied in Russia and received a degree from a university in Moscow last year.
Soon after capture of the capital by rebels, celebrations erupted around Syria and crowds ransacked President Bashar al-Assad’s luxurious home on Sunday.
Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets as the rebel factions heralded the departure of “tyrant” Assad, saying: “We declare the city of Damascus free.”
AFPTV footage showed a column of smoke rising from central Damascus, and AFP correspondents in the city saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad’s home after it had been looted. The rooms of the residence had been left completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor, while an entrance hall at the presidential palace not far away had been torched.
“I can’t believe I’m living this moment,” tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this day,” he said, adding: “We are starting a new history for Syria.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”.
Around the country, people toppled statues of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father and the founder of the system of government that he inherited. For the past 50 years in Syria, even the slightest suspicion of dissent could land one in prison or get one killed.
As rebels entered the capital, HTS said its fighters broke into a jail on the outskirts of Damascus, announcing an “end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya”, which has become a by-word for the darkest abuses of Assad’s era.
UN war crimes investigators on Sunday described Assad’s fall as a “historic new beginning” for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the “atrocities” committed under his rule are not repeated.
The rapid developments came just hours after HTS said it had captured the strategic city of Homs, where prisoners were also released. Homs was the third major city seized by the rebels, who began their advance on November 27.
Rebel factions aired a statement on Syrian state television, urging fighters and citizens to safeguard the “property of the free Syrian state”.
State TV broadcast a message proclaiming the “victory of the great Syrian revolution”. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani visited Damascus’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, as crowds greeted him with smiles and embraces, AFP images showed. His group HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, HTS has sought to soften its image in recent years.
On Sunday afternoon the rebels announced a curfew in the capital until 5:00 am (0200 GMT) Monday.
The commander of Syria’s US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of northeast Syria, hailed as “historic” the fall of Assad’s “authoritarian regime”.
The Observatory Sunday said Israel struck Syrian army weapons depots on the outskirts of Damascus.
Assad’s rule had for years been supported by Lebanese group Hezbollah, whose forces “vacated their positions around Damascus”, a source close to the group said Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of Assad was a “historic day in the... Middle East” and the fall of a “central link in Iran’s axis of evil”.
“This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, Assad’s main supporters,” he added.
Meanwhile, world powers pledged to work for stability in Syria and the surrounding region after rebels toppled its longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Assad’s ally Moscow said Russian troops on their bases in Syria were on high alert but that there was “no serious threat” to them.
US President-elect Donald Trump attributed the fall of Assad to losing the backing of Russia. “His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.”
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said President Joe Biden was keeping a close eye on “extraordinary events” transpiring and remained in constant contact with regional partners.
Beijing “is closely following the development of the situation in Syria and hopes that Syria returns to stability as soon as possible”, the foreign ministry said.
Iran’s foreign ministry said it expects “friendly” relations with Syria to continue. It said it would adopt “appropriate approaches” towards Syria in accordance with the behaviour of “effective actors” in Damascus. However, Iran’s embassy in Syria was vandalised on Sunday, an AFP photographer said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his country, which has supported rebel movements in Syria, was “ready to take responsibility for all that is necessary to heal Syria’s wounds and guarantee its unity, integrity and security”.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s “barbaric state” in Syria. “I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience. In this moment of uncertainty, I send them my wishes for peace, freedom, and unity,” he wrote on X.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the fall of Assad as “good news” and urged a political solution to stabilise the war-stricken country. He said it was “essential that law and order be quickly re-established in Syria” and urged protection for all religious communities.
A senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official urged Syrians to collaborate in order to avert a spiral into chaos. “We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don’t just see another episode of impending chaos,” presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Sunday called for peace and stability in Syria after the fall of its president Bashar al-Assad in the face of an Islamist-led rebel offensive. “The Syrian people have suffered under Assad’s barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure,” Starmer said in a statement.
“Our focus is now on ensuring a political solution prevails, and peace and stability is restored,” he added, calling for “civilians and minorities” to be protected.
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas hailed Assad’s fall as “a positive and long-awaited development”. She said “it also shows the weakness of Assad’s backers, Russia and Iran.” She added that the EU’s priority was to “ensure security” in the region.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga welcomed Assad’s departure, saying that authoritarians who rely on support from Putin are destined to fall, while stressing Kyiv’s support for Syria’s people.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government congratulated the Syrian people and rebels, hoping a transition would lead to “an independent and service-oriented Islamic government” and a Syria “free from external interference”.
Iraq urged respect for the “free will of all Syrians and emphasises that the security, territorial integrity and independence of Syria are of paramount importance,” government spokesman Basim Alawadi said in a statement.
Spain’s foreign ministry said it supports a peaceful a “political transition” in Syria that brings stability to the region.
Irish prime minister Simon Harris said the protection of civilians in Syria was “paramount” and urged a “peaceful transition as well as free and fair elections”.
The commander of a Kurdish-led force in Syria hailed “historic” moments on Sunday with the fall of the “authoritarian regime” of Bashar al-Assad. “In Syria, we are living through historic moments as we witness the fall of the authoritarian regime in Damascus,” said Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls swathes of northeast Syria, said in a statement on Telegram.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Sunday said deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should be “held accountable” but called the nation’s political upheaval a “historic opportunity” for Syrians to rebuild their country. In the first full US reaction to Assad’s overthrow by an Islamist-led coalition of rebel factions, Biden expressed optimism. However, he also warned that Washington would “remain vigilant” against the emergence of terrorist groups.
“The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice,” Biden said, speaking from the White House. “It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”
Asked by reporters what should happen to the deposed president, who reportedly has fled to Moscow, Biden said that “Assad should be held accountable.” Biden, who is set to step down in January and make way for Republican Donald Trump’s return to power, said Washington will assist Syrians in rebuilding.
“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” Syria “with a new constitution,” he said. However, Biden cautioned that hardline Islamist groups within the victorious rebel alliance will be under scrutiny. “Some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human right abuses,” Biden said.
The United States had “taken note” of recent statements by rebels suggesting they had since moderated, he said, but cautioned: “We will assess not just their words, but their actions.”
Biden said Washington is “clear eyed” that the Islamic State extremist group, often known as ISIS, “will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish” itself in Syria.
“We will not let that happen,” he said, adding that on Sunday alone, US forces had conducted “a dozen” strikes against ISIS inside Syria.
Biden also confirmed that US authorities believe the American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, still lives. “We believe he’s alive,” Biden said, but the US has yet “to identify where he is.”
Earlier, Biden met with his national security team at the White House to discuss the crisis.
Meanwhile, Israel has “seized” territory in Syrian-controlled areas of the Golan Heights, as its military warned Syrians living in five villages close to the Israeli-occupied portion of the strategic area to “stay home”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered Israeli forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, after a lightning advance by Syrian opposition forces ended Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that the decades-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian soldiers had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover. “We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” he said.
After Netanyahu’s comments, the Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to Syrians living in Ofaniya, Quneitra, al-Hamidiyah, Samdaniya al-Gharbiyya and al-Qahtaniyah – all close to the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights. “The fighting in your area is forcing the IDF [Israeli military] to act and we do not intend to harm you,” Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, said on social media. Agricultural areas in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were declared closed military zones and some schools shifted to online classes in anticipation of unrest.
Meanwhile, Israeli media said on Sunday that the Israeli air force has bombed weapons depots in southern Syria and Damascus to prevent opposition groups from seizing them. “We attacked ammunition depots in southern Syria and in the Damascus airport area for fears they might fall into the hands of armed groups and local factions,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN quoted an unnamed Israeli security official as saying.
Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said weapons depots and surface-to-surface missile stockpiles were the targets of Israeli attacks in Syria, without providing further details.
Following the recent clashes and collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Foreign Office on Sunday confirmed that all Pakistani nationals were safe in Syria and were advised to exercise caution. Almost 250 Pakistani pilgrims have been stranded in turmoil-hit country as flights to Lahore and other cities have been cancelled by the airlines.
In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in Syria.” She said that the Pakistan embassy in Syria was open for support and advice. “As of now Damascus Airport is closed. Our embassy remains in contact with stranded Pakistani nationals including Zaireen. It will facilitate their return once the airport opens.”
She further said that Pakistan had always supported unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, and there was no change in its principled position.
In addition, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar held telephonic conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the unfolding situation in Syria. During the telephonic conversation, the deputy PM shared the details of the efforts made by the Pakistan’s government for the safety and security of its nationals in Syria.
They also discussed possible cooperation between the two countries for the safety of the Pakistan nationals.