Syrian President Bashar Assad flees country as his government collapses and insurgents enter Damascus

Syria’s authorities seems to have fallen after opposition fighters stated they’d entered Damascus following a shocking advance, and a Syrian opposition battle monitor reported that President Bashar Assad had left the nation.  

Syrian opposition fighters stated early Sunday native time that they’d entered Damascus and residents of the capital reported the sounds of gunfire and explosions. 

Rami Abdurrahman — who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition battle monitor — informed the Related Press that Assad took a flight Sunday out of Damascus. Two senior Syrian military officers additionally informed Reuters that Assad flew out of Damascus Sunday for an unknown vacation spot. The White Home indicated to CBS Information it was unaware of Assad’s whereabouts. 

“President Biden and his crew are carefully monitoring the extraordinary occasions in Syria and staying in fixed contact with regional companions,” White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Sean Savett wrote on social media.    

The Syrian military notified officers that Assad’s rule had ended, Reuters reported. 

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali stated early Sunday that the federal government was able to “lengthen its hand” to the opposition and hand over its features to a transitional authorities.

“I’m in my home and I’ve not left, and that is due to my belonging to this nation,” Jalili stated in a video assertion. He stated he would go to his workplace to proceed work within the morning and known as on Syrian residents to not deface public property.

He didn’t handle stories that Assad had fled. 

The professional-government Sham FM radio reported that Damascus airport was evacuated and all flights halted.

The insurgents additionally introduced they’d entered the infamous Saydnaya navy jail north of the capital and “liberated our prisoners” there.

Damascus was anticipated to fall, three U.S. officers had beforehand informed CBS Information, after Syrian insurgents surrounded the capital in a swiftly transferring offensive that first started Nov. 27. Syrian insurgents additionally claimed early Sunday to have captured the important thing central metropolis of Homs. 

Iranian forces who’d been defending Assad had “just about” evacuated from Syria, the U.S. officers stated earlier Saturday. 

Syrian insurgents reached Damascus on Saturday as a part of a quickly transferring offensive that has seen them take over a few of Syria’s largest cities. It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.  

The advances previously week had been among the many largest lately by opposition factions, led by a bunch that has its origins in al-Qaida and is taken into account a terrorist group by the U.S. and the United Nations. Of their push to overthrow Assad’s authorities, the insurgents have met little resistance from the Syrian military.

The fighters are led by probably the most highly effective rebel group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, together with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias known as the Syrian Nationwide Military. Each have been entrenched within the northwest.    

Abdurrahman had earlier reported that insurgents had been energetic within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. He added that opposition fighters on Saturday had been additionally marching from japanese Syria towards the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have began finishing up the “ultimate stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that insurgents had been headed from southern Syria towards Damascus.

Ghani stated early Sunday native time that rebel forces had “absolutely liberated” Homs, Syria’s third-largest metropolis, Reuters reported, as authorities forces had supposedly deserted town. If they’ve certainly captured Homs, they’d lower the hyperlink between Damascus, Assad’s seat of energy, and the northern coastal area the place the president enjoys extensive help.  

His chief worldwide backer, Russia, is busy with its battle in Ukraine, and Lebanon’s highly effective Hezbollah, which at one level despatched 1000’s of fighters to shore up his forces, has been weakened by a yearlong battle with Israel. Iran, in the meantime, has seen its proxies throughout the area degraded by Israeli common airstrikes. The Israel Protection Forces stated on Saturday that after armed people carried out an assault at a U.N. publish within the Hader space, their troops had been presently helping U.N. forces in repelling the assault. 

On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump commented on the state of affairs on Fact Social, saying, “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

Three U.S. officers informed CBS Information that the al-Assad household’s reign that began in 1971 seems to be ending.

“America isn’t going to…militarily dive into the center of a Syrian civil battle,” White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan informed an viewers on the Reagan Nationwide Protection Discussion board, an annual gathering of nationwide safety officers, protection companies and lawmakers on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. “What we’re going to do is deal with the American nationwide safety priorities and pursuits.”

He stated the U.S. would hold appearing as essential to hold the Islamic State — a violently anti-Western extremist group not identified to be concerned within the offensive however with sleeper cells in Syria’s deserts — from exploiting openings introduced by the combating.  

How the battle reignited

1000’s of individuals had been fleeing from the world amid the dramatic escalation within the civil battle, which had simmered with out main advances by both facet for years till the rebels mounted a shock offensive about two weeks in the past.

The seize of Homs was a significant victory for the rebels, who’ve already seized the northern cities of Aleppo and Hama, in addition to massive elements of the south, in a lightning offensive. Analysts stated insurgent management of Homs could be a game-changer. Aleppo is Syria’s second-largest metropolis. 

HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani informed CNN in an unique interview Thursday from Syria that the intention of the offensive is to overthrow Assad’s authorities.

The Syrian military withdrew from a lot of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving extra areas of the nation, together with two provincial capitals, below the management of opposition fighters, the navy and an opposition battle monitor stated. The redeployment away from the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida got here as Syria’s navy despatched massive numbers of reinforcements to defend Homs. 

The Syrian military stated in a press release earlier Saturday that it had carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints got here below assault by “terrorists.” The military stated it’s establishing a “sturdy and coherent defensive and safety belt within the space,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

Since Syria’s battle broke out in March 2011, the Syrian authorities has been referring to opposition gunmen as terrorists.

Within the gas-rich nation of Qatar, the international ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey had been scheduled to fulfill to debate the state of affairs in Syria. Turkey is a primary backer of the rebels in search of to overthrow Assad.

Qatar’s prime diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to make the most of the lull in combating lately to handle the nation’s underlying issues. “Assad didn’t seize this chance to start out partaking and restoring his relationship together with his individuals,” he stated.

Sheikh Mohammed stated he was shocked by how rapidly the rebels have superior and stated there’s a actual risk to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He stated the battle might “injury and destroy what’s left if there is no such thing as a sense of urgency” to start out a political course of.

After the autumn of the cities of Daraa and Sweida early Saturday, Syrian authorities forces stay in command of 5 provincial capitals — Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, in addition to Latakia and Tartus on the Mediterranean coast.

Tartus is residence to the one Russian naval base outdoors the previous Soviet Union whereas Latakia is residence to a significant Russian air base.

On Friday, U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured extensive elements of the japanese province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq in addition to the provincial capital that carries the identical identify. The seize of areas in Deir el-Zour is a blow to Iran’s affect within the area as the world is the gateway to the hall linking the Mediterranean to Iran, a provide line for Iran-backed fighters, together with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

With the seize of a primary border crossing with Iraq by the SDF and after opposition fighters took management of the Naseeb border crossing to Jordan in southern Syria, the Syrian authorities’s solely gateway to the surface world is the Masnaa border crossing with Lebanon.

Margaret Brennan

contributed to this report.