Syrian rebels say they have seized Damascus; Assad reportedly flees capital
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 2 weeks ago • 20 commentsBy: Ammar Cheikh Omar, Carol E. Lee and Corky Siemaszko
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Rebel fighters claimed they captured the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday as government forces loyal to the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, were routed in a matter of days.
The rebels' claim would open a new chapter in the 13-year-long civil war that has ravaged the ancient land.
"We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad," Hassan Abdul-Ghani, senior commander of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, said in a post on WhatsApp. "To the displaced people around the world, Free Syria awaits you."
NBC News has not independently confirmed the rebel's claim.
Assad's location was not immediately known. Multiple media reports indicate he has left Damascus, and Abdul-Ghani said Assad had fled. NBC News has not confirmed his departure or whereabouts.
Amid reports that Assad left the capital, Syria's prime minister, Ghazi al-Jalali, said he is in his home and does not intend to leave "except in a peaceful manner that ensures the continued functioning of public institutions and state facilities, promoting security and reassurance for our fellow citizens."
He said the government is ready to cooperate with "any leadership chosen by the Syrian people."
HTS General Command said it also freed the people being held in Sednaya Prison. The Syrian government has detained thousands at the military prison on the outskirts of Damascus, according to Reuters.
"We announce to the Syrian people the news of the liberation of our captives and the breaking of their chains, proclaiming the end of the era of oppression in Sednaya Prison."
Syrian state radio, Sham FM, reported that Damascus International Airport had been evacuated, all employees removed and all flights suspended. It was not clear Sunday who was in charge of the state outlet.
International reaction
President Joe Biden was "monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners," White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement Saturday night.
In a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday morning, President-elect Donald Trump said in all capital letters that the United States should "have nothing to do with" the situation in Syria. "This is not our fight. Let it play out."
The Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X its has deployed to the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, as well as other places, "to ensure the safety of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel." "We emphasize that the IDF is not interfering with the internal events in Syria," it said.
Militant group offensive
Damascus fell not long after rebels on Friday besieged the Syrian city of Homs with a rapid assault on government forces that left three of the country's five largest cities in their hands and nothing to stop them from marching on the Syrian capital. HTS rebels claimed Saturday ET that they had captured the city, a day after also claiming to have seized the city of Daraa.
The U.S., which has about 900 American troops in northern Syria, has been closely monitoring developments in the country.
In less than two weeks, the HTS rebels were also able to capture thecity of Aleppo in the north, as well as the central city of Hama, where government forces were forced out Thursday.
The HTS attack on Aleppo was the first opposition assault on the city since 2016, when a brutal air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Assad retakecontrol of Aleppo.
The sudden takeover of the capital by HTS militants was seen as a blow to the outside forces that have enabled Assad to cling to power for 24 years — Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
The rapid advance by HTS comes as the Mideast is awash in fresh fighting, with U.S.-backed Israel trying to root out Hamas in Gaza and maintain a fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are Iranian-allied groups.
Meanwhile, pro-Assad soldiers were battling Kurdish forces that seized government positions in eastern Syria near the cities of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zour, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.
HTS origins
HTS grew out of the former Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations.
It's one of several competing forces in Syria fighting to bring down the Assad regime that, since the beginning of the country's civil war almost 14 years ago, has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
A 2020 ceasefire left Assad in control of 70% of Syria, but some 6.8 million Syrians have fled the country.
Many have gone to Europe, where the sudden influx of Syrian refugees has fueled a resurgence of anti-immigrant far-right movements from Portugal to Poland.
The recent battlefield successes of HTS are the culmination of four years of trying to turn the rebel forces into a force capable of challenging Assad's army and equipping them with drones and other high-tech weapons of war, experts have said.
"The expansion of units ... along with large-scale indigenous rocket and missile production — has created a force that Assad's regime has seriously struggled to defend against, let alone outmaneuver," said Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, in a post on X.
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Russia just lost it’s warm water port in Syria….
I'm sure the russian asset soon to be in the white house will come to putin's rescue, instead of taking advantage of these events to accelerate the rendering of russia completely impotent on the world stage. poor tulsi must be beside herself in sorrow now ...
Assad’s plane was very likely shot down
That's one report I read but I've also read another that he's already safely in Morocco. Time will tell
assad and family are in moscow and putin has granted them asylum. all assad has to do now is deposit the syrian treasury into the bank of moscow and putin will award him a penthouse apartment with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city.
wealthy scumbag CEO's getting clipped and murderous dictators fleeing for their lives gives me hope ...
If Assad made it out, he is now doomed to live in exile with the many millions he and his family stole from their country. Lol how will he endure
maybe he can help putin with his cash flow problem ...
He should have to face a war crimes trial
he's in a war criminal sanctuary now ...
Lol should and willl are two different things, but it's Russia so there's a chance he'll fall out of a high window
oh my
Here is a shocker, the Rebels have made some sort of deal with the Russians and they Russians will keep their bases in Syria. Turkey must be in a fit of rage over this and most of the world is shocked.
I've only seen one source for this. I'm waiting for more confirmation.
I'm pretty sure that's a temporary stall. I don't think forgiveness is real big in middle east cultures ... /s
Russia takes a parting shot at the abysmal way that the Biden admin treated those who risked their lives to help Americans in Afghanistan.
The same way Trump pissed on the Kurds in Iraq.
Trump abandoned the Kurds? Did he make the promise to bring them to the US or do you just have to try to deflect from the failures of the Biden admin by deflecting incessantly to trump?
You realize every time you do this you are admitting that Biden is no better, and is in many ways worse than trump right?
The truth must have hit a nerve. It’s a fact if you want to accept it or not and actully I don’t deflect from Biden failures, have named them many times.
It was you that added the Biden comment, so best you heed your own comments before trying to get in a gotcha.
Cheers
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