A Syrian opposition warfare monitor and two senior military officers mentioned early Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the nation as rebels say they entered Damascus after a spectacular progress throughout the nation, with residents of the capital reporting the sounds of gunfire and explosions.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights instructed The Related Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus early Sunday. Reuters reported the identical, citing two senior military officers.
State tv in Iran, Assad’s fundamental backer through the years of warfare in Syria, reported that he had left the capital. It cited Qatar’s Al Jazeera information community for the data and gave no additional particulars.
There was no rapid official assertion from the Syrian authorities.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali mentioned the federal government was able to “attain out” to the opposition and hand over its features to a transitional authorities.
Syria’s civil warfare has reignited after years of dormancy, with a coalition of opposition forces shortly taking management of a number of main cities. CBC’s Chris Brown explains how the scenario unraveled and the important thing gamers preventing for management.
“I’m in my dwelling and I’ve not left, and that’s due to my belonging to this nation,” Jalali mentioned in a video assertion. He mentioned he would go to his workplace to proceed working within the morning and requested Syrian residents to not destroy public property.
He didn’t handle stories that Assad had left the nation.
An Related Press reporter in Damascus reported seeing teams of armed residents alongside the highway on the outskirts of the capital and listening to gunfire. Town’s fundamental police headquarters gave the impression to be deserted, its door left ajar with no officers exterior.
One other AP reporter shot footage of an deserted military checkpoint the place uniforms had been thrown to the bottom below an indication of Assad’s face.
Residents of the capital reported gunshots and explosions. Photos broadcast on opposition-linked media confirmed a tank in one of many capital’s central squares, as a small group of individuals gathered to rejoice. Cries of “God is nice” rang out from the mosques.
It was the primary time opposition forces had reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops retook the realm after a years-long siege.
The professional-government Sham FM radio reported that Damascus airport was evacuated and all flights grounded.
The insurgents additionally introduced that that they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison to the north of the capital and there “launched our prisoners”.
The night time earlier than, opposition forces had taken the central metropolis of Homs, Syria’s third largest, whereas authorities forces deserted it. Town is at an necessary intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, the bottom of help for the Syrian chief and residential to a strategic Russian naval base.
Sham FM reported that authorities forces took positions exterior Syria’s third-largest metropolis, with out giving additional particulars. Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned Syrian troops and members of assorted safety companies have withdrawn from the town, including that rebels have entered components of it.
The insurgency introduced later Saturday that it had taken over Homs. The seize of Homs is a significant victory for the insurgents, who’ve already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, in addition to giant components of the south, in a lightning offensive that started on November 27. Analysts mentioned Homs would fall into insurgent palms. a recreation changer.
The insurgent actions in Damascus got here after the Syrian military withdrew from a lot of the nation’s south, leaving extra areas, together with a number of provincial capitals, below the management of opposition fighters.
If Damascus fell to opposition forces, the federal government would solely have management of two of the 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.
UN Secretary-Common António Guterres says that after years of battle in Syria, it’s “excessive time” for all events to noticeably have interaction and chart a path to resolving the long-running disaster.
The advances final week had been among the many largest in years by opposition factions, led by a gaggle that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is taken into account a terrorist group by the USA and nations united As they’ve superior, the insurgents, led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian military.
The rebels’ fast positive factors, coupled with an absence of help from Assad’s former allies, posed essentially the most critical menace to his rule for the reason that begin of the warfare.
The UN’s particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, known as for pressing talks in Geneva on Saturday to make sure an “orderly political transition”. Talking to reporters on the annual Doha Discussion board in Qatar, he mentioned the scenario in Syria was altering by the minute.
Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose nation is Assad’s fundamental worldwide backer, mentioned he felt “sorrow for the Syrian folks”.
In Damascus, folks rushed to replenish on provides. 1000’s of individuals rushed to Syria’s border with Lebanon, making an attempt to get overseas.
Many outlets within the capital had been closed, one resident instructed The Related Press, and those who remained open ran out of fundamental items reminiscent of sugar. Some shops had been promoting objects at 3 times the traditional worth.
The UN mentioned it was transferring non-critical personnel overseas as a precaution.
Assad remoted
Assad has had little, if any, assist from his allies. Russia is busy with its warfare in Ukraine. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one level despatched hundreds of fighters to shore up Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a year-long battle with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies all through the area degraded by common Israeli airstrikes.
US President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media on Saturday that the US ought to keep away from navy involvement in Syria.
Pedersen mentioned a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation of UN Decision 2254 could be introduced at a later date. The decision, handed in 2015, known as for a Syrian-led political course of, beginning with the institution of a transitional governing physique, adopted by the drafting of a brand new structure and ending with UN-supervised elections.
Afterward Saturday, overseas ministers and senior diplomats from eight key nations – together with Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran – together with Pedersen, met on the sidelines of the Doha summit to debate the scenario in Syria.
In an announcement issued late Saturday, the contributors affirmed their help for a political answer to the Syrian disaster “that results in the tip of navy exercise and protects civilians.” In addition they agreed on the significance of strengthening worldwide efforts to extend help to the Syrian folks.
The march of the insurgents
Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned the insurgents had been within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters had been additionally marching from jap Syria to the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he mentioned.
HTS controls a lot of northwestern Syria and in 2017 established a “salvation authorities” to handle day-to-day affairs within the area. In recent times, HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s picture, reducing ties with al-Qaeda, abandoning hardline officers and vowing to embrace spiritual pluralism and tolerance.
Entrance burner24:24Who’re the fighters restarting the Syrian civil warfare?
The shock offensive started on November 27, throughout which gunmen captured the northern metropolis of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central metropolis of Hama, the nation’s fourth largest.
Opposition activists mentioned on Saturday {that a} day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is dwelling to priceless archaeological websites that had been in authorities palms since they had been taken from the Islamic militant group ISIS in 2017.
Within the south, Syrian troops left a lot of Quneitra province, together with the primary Baathist metropolis, activists mentioned.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned authorities troops had withdrawn from a lot of the 2 southern provinces.
The Syrian military mentioned in an announcement on Saturday that it has carried out the redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints had been attacked by “terrorists”. The military mentioned it’s establishing a “sturdy and coherent defensive and safety belt within the space”, ostensibly to defend Damascus from the south.
The Syrian authorities has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists for the reason that battle broke out in March 2011.
About The Author
