Author: Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Timour Azhari and Jaida Taha
AMMAN/BEIRUT/CAIRO (Reuters) – Syrian rebels spoke on state television for the first time on Sunday after a lightning attack that shocked the world and ended Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year dictatorial rule.
The Syrian military command informed officers on Sunday that the Assad regime was over, a Syrian officer told Reuters.
But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the main city of Hama and the rural areas of Homs and Deraa.
Assad, who has crushed all forms of opposition, flew from Damascus to an undisclosed destination on Sunday morning, two senior army officers told Reuters. The rebels said they entered the capital without any signs of a military deployment.
“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news that the prisoners have been released, their chains removed, and the era of injustice in Sednaya Prison is over,” the rebels said, referring to a large military prison outside Damascus that is being held by the Syrian government. Thousands of people have been detained.
Witnesses said thousands of people in cars and on foot gathered in a central square in Damascus, waving and chanting “freedom” from half a century of Assad family rule.
The dramatic collapse marked a seismic moment for the Middle East, ending the family’s ironclad rule over Syria and dealing a huge blow to Russia and Iran, which lost key allies in the heart of the region.
The speed of events has alarmed Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
It marks a turning point for Syria, which has been ravaged by more than 13 years of war that has devastated cities, killed hundreds of thousands of people and sent millions more as refugees abroad.
Stabilizing western Syria, which has been occupied by rebel forces, will be key. Western governments, which have shunned the Assad-led state for years, must decide how to deal with a new administration that appears likely to be influenced by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a globally designated terrorist group.
HTS, which has led the rebel advance across western Syria, is an al-Qaeda affiliate formerly known as the Nusra Front, but its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016. Yes.
“The real question is how orderly this transition will proceed, and it seems very clear that Golani is very eager for it to be an orderly transition,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and director of the university’s Center for Middle East Studies. . Oklahoma.
Golani will not want a repeat of the chaos that swept Iraq after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. “They’re going to have to rebuild. They’re going to need Europe and the United States to lift sanctions,” Landis said.
HTS is Syria’s most powerful rebel group, and some Syrians remain concerned that it will impose harsh Islamist rule or incite revenge.
The Syrian Airlines plane took off from Damascus airport around the time rebels were reported to have taken control of the capital, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew toward the Syrian coast, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite faction, but then suddenly made a U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for several minutes before disappearing from the map.
Reuters could not immediately confirm who the passengers were.
Two Syrian sources said Assad was very likely killed in the plane crash because it was a mystery why the plane suddenly made a U-turn and disappeared from the map, according to data from the Flightradar website.
“It may have disappeared from the radar and the transponder was turned off, but we think it is more likely that the aircraft crashed,” one Syrian source said, without elaborating.
As Syrians expressed joy, Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he was ready to support continuity of rule and cooperate with any leader chosen by the Syrian people.
The White House said US President Joe Biden and his team were monitoring “extraordinary events in Syria” and had been in contact with regional partners.
Syria’s civil war, which broke out in a 2011 uprising against Assad’s rule, has drawn in outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plan attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees to neighboring countries.
The front lines of Syria’s complex civil war have been dormant for years. Then Islamists once aligned with al Qaeda suddenly sprung into action, posing the biggest challenge yet to Assad, who had survived years of harsh war and international isolation with the help of Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
But Assad’s allies have been weakened and focused on other crises, leaving Assad in the hands of his opponents with a military unprepared to defend him.
Israel, which has seriously weakened the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is likely to celebrate the fall of Assad, another key regional ally of Iran. But the prospect of an Islamist group taking control of Syria is likely to raise concerns.
Thousands of Homs residents poured into the streets after troops withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria, stand with Bashar al-Assad.”
Rebels fired shots into the air in celebration, and young people tore down posters of Syria’s president, whose control of territory has collapsed following a week of dizzying military retreat.
The fall of Homs gave rebels control of Syria’s strategic center and key highway intersections, separating Damascus from the coastal region that is a stronghold of Assad’s al-Alpha sect and where his Russian allies have naval and air bases.
Homs’ arrest is also a powerful symbol of the rebel movement’s dramatic comeback. The Swathes of Homs were destroyed a few years ago during a fierce siege between rebels and the military. A site of battle to suppress the driven rebels.
Rebels freed thousands of people held in city prisons. Security forces burned the documents and then left in a hurry.
Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told X on Sunday: “We are witnessing a historic moment in Syria as the authoritarian regime in Damascus falls. “These changes provide an opportunity to build a new Syria, based on democracy and justice and guaranteeing the rights of all Syrians.”
