Syrian President Bashar al-Assad departed Damascus for an unknown destination as rebels announced an incursion into the capital. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said his government was ready for any transfer of power as the rebels declared “the end of an era.”
AFP news agency reported that army and security forces have abandoned Damascus international airport, according to war monitors. A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that fighters from a key Assad ally had left their positions around the Syrian capital.
The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said its forces were advancing on Damascus. Shortly after, rebels broke into the prison, which has become a symbol of the Syrian regime’s darkest abuses, announcing “the end of the era of tyranny at Sednaya Prison,” AFP news agency reported.
Earlier, rebels announced they had captured the strategic city of Homs, which is on the way to the capital. But Syria’s Defense Ministry denied this, saying the situation in Homs was “safe and stable.”
Hezbollah, which has long supported the Assad regime, called on the country’s military to withdraw. “In the last few hours, Hezbollah has instructed its fighters to withdraw from the Homs region, with some heading to Latakia (in Syria) and others to the Hermel region in Lebanon,” an official told AFP.
Residents in Damascus told AFP there was panic as traffic jams clogged roads and people lined up to buy supplies and withdraw money from ATMs. “When I left home this morning, it wasn’t like this… but suddenly everyone was scared,” said the woman, Rania. On the outskirts of Damascus, demonstrators toppled a statue of Assad’s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, witnesses said.
An Iraqi security source told AFP that Baghdad was allowing hundreds of Syrian soldiers “who have fled from the front lines” into the country. Other sources put the figure at 2,000 soldiers, including officers.
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime follows a 13-year rebellion that began as a peaceful uprising against President Assad and snowballed into a full-scale civil war that has devastated Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was formed in 2012 under the name al-Nusra. The following year, he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda. However, in 2016, it severed ties with al-Qaeda and changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. World powers, including the United States and Britain, continue to view the country as an affiliate of al-Qaeda. The group has recently sought to soften its image, assuring ethnic minorities in the areas it covers that they have nothing to worry about.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham consolidated its power in Idlib and Aleppo and established the Syrian National Salvation Government to control its territory. In 2020, Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire to halt the Bashar al-Assad regime’s push to retake Idlib.
Over the past two months, rebels have resumed attacks as they realize that the Syrian government’s allies are embroiled in other conflicts. Hezbollah and Iran have been hurt by Israeli offensives, and Russia is at war with Ukraine. This exposed Bashar al-Assad.
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States “should not be involved” in the situation in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was “unacceptable” to allow “terrorist groups to suppress” Syrian territory. Moscow and Tehran have supported Assad’s regime and military during the war.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government supports some armed groups in northern Syria, said on Saturday that Syria was “tired of war, blood and tears.”
