Bashar al-Assad toppled in Syria
Syrian opposition groups said on December 8th that they have ended the 24-year rule of Bashar al-Assad, according to Reuters.
Syria’s army command had notified officers on the same day that Assad’s rule was over, according to what a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters
The Syrian army did however say it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the towns of Hama and Homs and Deraa countryside.
Assad flew out of Syrian capital Damascus for a unknown destination earlier on December 8th, two senior army officers told Reuters
The toppling of Assad ends not just his 24-year reign but a 54-year period of rule by the Assad family, with his father Hafez coming to power in a coup in 1970.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time reports came in that the capital had been taken, according to the Flightradar website.
READ: Syrian opposition groups close in on Homs
The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of the Alawite sect which Assad belongs to, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before vanishing from the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he was ready to support the continuity of governance and prepared to co-operate with any leadership that was chosen by the Syrian people.
The White House said US President Joe Biden and his team were monitoring the “extraordinary events in Syria” and were in touch with regional partners.
The group leading the offensive which has toppled Assad is known as Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. They are an armed political alliance headed by Al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria, who were then known as Al-Nusra.
HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, known as Jolani, said on December 8th that it was prohibited to go near public institutions that he said will remain under the supervision of the “former prime minister” until they were officially handed over.
READ: Syria war monitor says armed opposition group controls most of Aleppo
Opposition groups had already announced hours before taking Damascus that they had gained full control of Homs, the third biggest city in Syria, after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s rule dangling by a thread.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Russia had issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution to the crisis.
Regional expert Sami Hamdi explained “the rapid rebel advance took the region by surprise. Regional powers were in the process of rehabilitating Assad. However, with Iranian militias weakened and Russia distracted, Assad’s regime collapsed in the absence of the foreign forces that kept him in power.”
Jolani has tried to assure Syria’s minorities that he will not interfere with them. When asked on Saturday whether he believed Jolani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”.
Syria’s war began back in 2011, as part of the Arab Spring uprisings that also took place in countries like Tunisia and Egypt. 13 years later, Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule, and his family’s 54-year rule, is over.
Reuters
