Jubilation and gunshots as Syrians have a good time finish of half-century of Assad household rule – Nationwide

Syrians stuffed the streets Sunday to the sound of celebratory gunfire after the rebels' spectacular advance reached the capital, ending the Assad household's 50-year iron rule however elevating questions concerning the nation's future and the area as a complete.

Joyful crowds gathered in central squares of Damascus, waving the Syrian revolutionary flag in scenes harking back to the early days of the Arab Spring rebellion, earlier than a brutal crackdown and rising insurgency plunged the nation right into a civil conflict lasting virtually 14 years.

Others gleefully ransacked the presidential palace and the Assad household residence after President Bashar al-Assad and different senior officers have disappeared, with their whereabouts unknown. Russia, a detailed ally, mentioned Assad left the nation after negotiations with insurgent teams and gave directions to switch energy peacefully.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaeda commander who severed ties with the group years in the past and says he favors pluralism and non secular tolerance, leads the most important insurgent faction and is able to chart the long run route of the nation.

The top of the Assad regime is a blow to Iran and its allies, already weakened by greater than a yr of battle with The occupying Zionist entity. Iran, which strongly supported Assad all through the civil conflict, mentioned Syrians ought to resolve their nation's future “with out harmful and coercive international intervention.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Israeli troops had seized a buffer zone within the Golan Heights relationship from 1974, after Syrian troops deserted their positions through the newest unrest.

The rebels now face the daunting activity of bridging bitter divisions in a war-torn nation nonetheless divided between completely different armed factions. Turkey-backed opposition fighters are battling U.S.-allied Kurdish forces within the north, and the Islamic State group continues to be lively in some distant areas.

Syrian state tv broadcast a video assertion Sunday morning from a bunch of rebels saying Assad had been toppled and all prisoners launched. They referred to as on the inhabitants to protect the establishments of the “Free Syrian State”. The rebels then introduced a curfew in Damascus from 4 p.m. to five a.m.

The rebels mentioned they’d freed these held within the infamous Saydnaya jail, the place rights teams say 1000’s have been tortured and killed. A video circulating on-line purported to point out rebels breaking down cell doorways and liberating dozens of prisoners, a lot of whom appeared shocked and confused. Amongst them, at the very least one small youngster was seen.

Insurgent commander Anas Salkhadi, who appeared on state tv later within the day, sought to reassure Syria's spiritual and ethnic minorities by saying: “Syria is for everybody, with out exception.” Syria is for Druze, Sunnis, Alawites and all sects. »

Get the most recent nationwide information

For information impacting Canada and all over the world, signal as much as obtain breaking information alerts despatched on to you as they occur.

“We won’t deal with individuals just like the Assad household did,” he added.

Celebrations throughout the capital

Damascus residents gathered to hope in mosques and have a good time in squares, chanting “God is nice.” Individuals additionally chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked horns. Youngsters picked up weapons that had apparently been left behind by safety forces and fired them into the air.

Revelers stuffed Umayyad Sq. within the metropolis heart, the place the Protection Ministry is positioned. Males fired pictures into the air in celebration and a few waved the three-star Syrian flag, which predates the Assad authorities and adopted by revolutionaries.

“I can’t categorical my happiness,” Bassam Masr mentioned. “However this happiness will solely be full once I can see my son out of jail and know the place he’s. I've been in search of him for 2 hours. He has been detained for 13 years.

Troopers and police left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Protection Ministry. Movies from Damascus confirmed households wandering across the presidential palace, some rising with piles of plates and different home goods.

The traditionally pro-government Syrian newspaper al-Watan wrote: “We face a brand new web page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding extra blood. We imagine and are satisfied that Syria will probably be for all Syrians. »

The newspaper added that media staff shouldn’t be blamed for publishing authorities statements previously, saying: “We solely carried out the directions and printed the data they despatched us.”

A press release from the Alawite sect – to which Assad belongs and which constitutes the core of his base – referred to as on younger Syrians to be “calm, rational and prudent and to not permit themselves to be drawn into what’s tearing aside the unity of our nation “.

The rebels are drawn primarily from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, which additionally has important Druze, Christian and Kurdish communities.

Assad's whereabouts unknown

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali mentioned in a video assertion that the federal government was able to “attain out” to the opposition and hand over its duties to a transitional authorities. A video shared by Syrian opposition media on Sunday confirmed a bunch of armed males escorting him out of his workplace and to the 4 Seasons resort.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights advised Assad that Assad took a flight from Damascus on Sunday.

A senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, which has sought to rehabilitate Assad's picture and has hosted high-profile exiles lately, refused to say his whereabouts when requested by journalists at a convention in Bahrain.

Anwar Gargash mentioned Assad's vacation spot at this level is a “footnote in historical past”, evaluating it to the lengthy exile of German Emperor Wilhelm II after World Conflict I.

Assad has been accused of conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity through the conflict, together with a 2013 chemical weapons assault on the capital's suburbs.

There was no instant remark from Iran, which was Assad's strongest supporter. The Iranian embassy in Damascus was ransacked after apparently being deserted.

Name for an orderly transition

Insurgent advances since November 27 have been the most important lately and have seen the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs fall in a matter of days because the Syrian military melts away. Russia, Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, which offered essential help to Assad all through the rebellion, deserted him within the remaining days as they recovered from different conflicts.

The rebels are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, group, which traces its origins to al-Qaeda and is taken into account a terrorist group by the US and the United Nations.

Its chief, al-Golani, sought to rework the group right into a reasonable and tolerant power. HTS established a “salvation authorities” in 2017 to manage an enormous area of northwest Syria underneath its management.

“Golani made historical past and sparked hope in thousands and thousands of Syrians,” mentioned Dareen Khalifa, senior adviser to the Worldwide Disaster Group and an skilled on Syrian teams. “However he and the rebels now face a formidable problem. We will solely hope that they’ll rise to the event.

The UN particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, referred to as on Saturday for pressing talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition”.

Gulf nation Qatar, a key regional mediator, hosted an emergency assembly of international ministers and senior officers from eight international locations with pursuits in Syria on Saturday night. Contributors included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar's international ministry, advised reporters that they agreed on the necessity to “contain all events on the bottom”, together with the HTS, and that the primary concern was “stability and a protected transition”.

Netanyahu mentioned the 1974 settlement separating Israeli and Syrian forces within the Golan Heights had “collapsed” as Syrian troopers deserted their positions, and that The occupying Zionist entity had seized the buffer zone for its personal safety.

The military mentioned the deployment was geared toward guaranteeing the security of residents of the Golan Heights annexed by The occupying Zionist entity. The occupying Zionist entity seized the territory within the 1967 Center East Conflict and the worldwide group, besides the US, considers it occupied.