Assad’s departure comes after the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched its campaign challenging more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.
The Syrian government has reportedly fallen, bringing an end to the more than five decade rule of the Assad family.
Syrian rebels said they freed the capital Damascus from President Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship early on Sunday after a week of stunning military advances against his forces.
Assad flees
Assad’s departure comes less than two weeks after the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched its campaign challenging more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.
Assad is believed to have fled the country in the early hours of Sunday to an unknown destination, Syrian security officials said.
The commander HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, said all state institutions will remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they are handed over officially, Al Jazeera reported.
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Jubilation
Shortly afterwards, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he had left the country, while the rebels themselves said the “tyrant” had “fled”.
Witnesses report jubilation in Damascus, with chants of “Freedom! Freedom!” as Syrians celebrated an end to more than 50 years of rule by Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez before him.
Fighters also reportedly released the prisoners held in Sednaya Prison north of Damascus, as they have done in other cities they have taken during their lightning advance over the past 10 days.
‘Extending hand”
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and turn its functions over to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
The head of Syria’s main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, told Al Jazeera Mubasher TV on Sunday that they would meet with Arab and European countries and the United Nations to agree on next stage for the country.
Assad rule
The Assad family have ruled Syria since 1971 when Hafez al-Assad seized power in a military coup, before his son Bashar inherited the presidency in 2000.
After facing down nationwide protests demanding his ouster and an armed rebellion that he all but crushed, Assad had – until a lightning rebel offensive – taken back control of much of Syria in the civil war that began in 2011.
While leading a merciless war of survival for his rule, Assad presented himself to his people and the outside world as Syria’s only viable leader in the face of the rebel threat.
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