Syria Has Fallen: President Bashar al-Assad On The Run

Syria Has Fallen – Syrian rebels has announced the capture of the country’s capital, Damascus, and the deposed of President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. al-Assad’s whereabouts were uncertain as of Sunday morning; however, the opposition claims that he has departed the country. Reuters also quotes two army sources as confirming that the president’s plane left Syria for an unknown country.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, also stated that Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government.

iexclusivenews reports that the armed opposition, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has gained major victories in recent days, taking over major cities like Aleppo and Homs.

The commander of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, on Sunday morning, stated that state institutions will remain under the supervision of Mr al-Assad’s prime minister, Mohammad al-Jalali, until formal handing over. Al-Jazeera reports.

The HTS and many of the opposition fighter groups are believed to be backed by Turkey, whose president has never hidden his disdain for Mr al-Assad since the Arab spring.

President Trump on Syria Has Fallen

Incoming US President, Donald Trump, on Saturday, in a message on X, celebrated the loss of Mr al-Assad but said the US should not get involved in the crisis.

Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad.

Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.

Mr al-Assad’s exit is a major blow to Iran and Russia who have actively supported his government, deploying arms and personnel to fight alongside the Syrian army against the rebels.

However, with Russia bogged down with the war in Ukraine and Iran facing internal crises alongside a potential war with Israel, Mr al-Assad appears to have been unable to hold down the country on his own.

International Reactions

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it also sent troops to “other places necessary for its defense,” and that the force deployment was meant to provide security for residents of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

It added it was “not interfering with the internal events in Syria.”

Israel captured that territory from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move not recognized by much of the international community, which views the territory as occupied.

A later ceasefire agreement created a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries’ territories, prohibiting military presence or activity from either side in the area. United Nations peacekeepers have patrolled the area since 1974, according to AP

Head of U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces hails Assad’s fall; — “This change presents an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that secures the rights of all Syrians,” Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said in a written statement, praising the fall of the “authoritarian regime in Damascus.”

The Kurdish-led group has a significant presence in northeastern Syria, where they have clashed with the extremist Islamic State group and Turkish-backed militias over the years.

People celebrate in mosques and squares in Damascus

Syria Has Fallen — As daylight broke over Damascus for the first time after the fall of the government of Bashar Assad to a shock offensive launched by opposition forces, crowds gathered to pray in the city’s mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting: “God is great.”

Soldiers and police officers had left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.

Many of the capital’s residents were in disbelief at the speed with which Assad’s hold on the country had fallen after nearly 14 years of civil war.

“I did not sleep last night and I did not accept to sleep until I heard the news of his fall,” said Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works in the electricity sector. “From Idlib to Damascus, it only took them (the opposition forces) a few days, thank God. May God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.” AP reported