Syrian govt appears to fall after lightning rebel offensive; Assad flees

Syria's government appears to have fallen after opposition fighters said they had entered Damascus following a stunning advance and a Syrian opposition war monitor reported that President Bashar Assad had left the country.

The monitor, Rami Abdurrahman, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government.

It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.

The night before, opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, as government forces abandoned it. Homs is an important intersection between Damascus and Syria's coastal provinces that are the Syrian leader's base of support.

 

The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too.

Eight key countries gathered with the UN special envoy on Syria on the sidelines of the Doha Summit for two hours of discussions Saturday night, and more will follow. The UN envoy seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an orderly political transition.

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I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country, Jalili said.

He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.

He did not address reports that President Bashar Assad has left the country.

There was no immediate comment from the United Arab Emirates on Assad's whereabouts. Assad's family has extensive real estate holdings in Dubai.

Military command of Syria's opposition says Damascus is free' of Bashar Assad's rule  Beirut - The military command of the Syrian opposition says its fighters have entered the capital Damascus claiming that it is free" of President Bashar Assad's rule.

The so-called Military Command Administration said Assad had fled without giving further details.

Assad's departure marks the end of the 54-year of Assad family rule of Syria with an iron fist. His father Hafez Assad came to power in a bloodless coup in 1970 and ruled until his death in 2000. Bashar Assad was elected weeks after his father's death and ruled Syria until he was overthrown on Sunday.

The command declared the end of the dark period and the beginning of a new era in Syria.

State television in Iran, Assad's main backer in the years of war in Syria, reported that terrorists had entered Damascus and that Assad had left the capital. It cited Qatar's Al Jazeera news network for the information and did not elaborate.

Syrian opposition war monitor says President Bashar Assad has left the country  Beirut - The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor says Syria's President Bashar Assad has left the country for an undisclosed location.

Rami Abdurrahman tells The Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday.

Abdurrahman's comments came after the protesters took over the Syrian capital.

An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road in the outskirts of the capital and hearing sounds of gunshots. The city's main police headquarters appeared to be abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside.

Another AP journalist shot footage of an abandoned army checkpoint, uniforms discarded on the ground under a poster of Assad's face.

Syrian insurgents say they have entered Damascus as residents report gunfire  Syrian insurgents say they have entered Damascus, capping a stunning advance across the country, as residents of the capital reported sounds of gunfire and explosions.

There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government. The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that Damascus airport was evacuated and the insurgents announced they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and liberated our prisoners there.

The night before, opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, as government forces abandoned it. The government denied rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.

The loss of Homs represented a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria's coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus the Syrian leader's base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

Biden administration doesn't intend to intervene in Syria  Washington President Joe Biden's national security adviser says the Biden administration has no intention of intervening in Syria.

The United States is not going to ... militarily dive into the middle of a Syrian civil war, Jake Sullivan said Saturday at an annual gathering of national security officials, defense companies and lawmakers in California.

He said the US would keep acting as necessary to keep the Islamic State group a violently anti-Western extremist group not known to be involved in the offensive but with sleeper cells in Syria's deserts from exploiting openings presented by the fighting.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's backers Iran, Russia and Hezbollah, "have all been weakened and distracted, Sullivan said. He later added that none of them are prepared to provide the kind of support to Assad that they provided in the past.

The Biden administration says Syrian opposition forces' capture of government-held cities demonstrates just how diminished those countries are by wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon.