Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flees the nation as his authorities collapses and insurgents enter Damascus

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

Syrian opposition fighters mentioned Sunday morning they’d entered Damascus and residents within the capital reported sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Rami Abdurrahman — who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition warfare monitor — informed the Related Press that Assad took a flight Sunday from Damascus. Two senior Syrian military officers additionally informed Reuters that Assad left Damascus on Sunday for an unknown vacation spot. The White Home informed CBS Information it didn’t know Assad's whereabouts.

“President Biden and his staff are intently monitoring the extraordinary occasions in Syria and stay in fixed contact with regional companions,” mentioned White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Sean Savett. wrote on social networks.

The Syrian military knowledgeable its officers that Assad's rule had ended, Reuters reported.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali mentioned Sunday morning that the federal government was able to “attain out” to the opposition and hand over its capabilities to a transitional authorities.

“I’m at house and I’ve not left, and this is because of my belonging to this nation,” Jalili mentioned in a video assertion. He mentioned he would go to his workplace to proceed his work within the morning and known as on Syrian residents to not degrade public property.

He didn’t reply to stories that Assad had fled.

Professional-government radio station Sham FM reported that Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights had been halted.

The insurgents additionally introduced that they’d entered the infamous Saydnaya army jail, north of the capital, and “freed our prisoners”.

Damascus should fall, three U.S. officers informed CBS Information, after Syrian insurgents surrounded the capital in a fast offensive that started on November 27. Syrian insurgents additionally claimed early Sunday that they’d captured the important thing central metropolis of Homs.

Iranian forces defending Assad have “just about” been evacuated from Syria, US officers introduced on Saturday.

Syrian insurgents reached the suburbs of Damascus on Saturday in a fast offensive that noticed them take management of a few of Syria's greatest cities, opposition activists and a insurgent commander mentioned Saturday. It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops retook areas on the outskirts of the capital after a year-long siege.

Final week's advances have been among the many most important lately by opposition factions, led by a gaggle that has its origins in al-Qaida and is taken into account a terrorist group by america and the United Nations. United. Of their drive to overthrow Assad's authorities, the insurgents have encountered little resistance from the Syrian military.

The fighters are led by Syria's strongest rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, in addition to a Turkish-backed Syrian militia group known as the Syrian Nationwide Military. Each are entrenched within the northwest.

Abdurrahman beforehand reported that insurgents have been lively within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. He added that on Saturday, opposition fighters have been additionally marching from japanese Syria in direction of the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

An rebel commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun finishing up the “remaining stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that the insurgents have been heading from southern Syria in direction of Damascus.

Ghani mentioned Sunday morning native time that rebel forces had “fully liberated” Homs, Syria's third-largest metropolis, Reuters reported, whereas authorities forces reportedly deserted town. In the event that they do handle to seize Homs, they’d sever the hyperlink between Damascus, Assad's seat of energy, and the northern coastal area the place the president enjoys widespread help.

Its major worldwide backer, Russia, is busy with its warfare in Ukraine, and Lebanon's highly effective Hezbollah, which at one level despatched hundreds of fighters to bolster its forces, has been weakened by a yearlong battle with The occupying Zionist entity. Iran, in the meantime, has seen its proxies within the area degraded by common Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli army mentioned on Saturday that after armed people carried out an assault on a UN put up within the Hader space, its troops have been at present serving to UN forces repel the assault.

On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump commented on the scenario on Reality Social, saying, “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET HIM PLAY. DON'T GET INVOLVED!”

Three U.S. officers informed CBS Information that the al-Assad household's rule, which started in 1971, seems to be coming to an finish.

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

He mentioned america would proceed to behave if mandatory to stop Islamic State – a violently anti-Western extremist group that isn’t recognized to be concerned within the offensive however has sleeper cells in deserts. Syrians – to take advantage of the openings supplied by the combating.

How the battle reignited

1000’s of individuals have been fleeing the area amid the dramatic escalation of the civil warfare, which had simmered for years with out main progress on both aspect till the battle ended. the rebels launched a shock offensive about two weeks ago.

The seize of Homs was a serious 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. In accordance with analysts, management of Homs by the rebels can be a game-changer. Aleppo is the second largest metropolis in Syria.

HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani informed CNN in an unique interview from Syria on Thursday that the objective of the offensive was to overthrow Assad's authorities.

The Syrian military withdrew from a lot of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving extra elements of the nation, together with two provincial capitals, underneath the management of opposition fighters, the military and an observer mentioned of the opposition. The redeployment of the southern provinces of Daraa and Soueida occurred because the Syrian military despatched massive numbers of reinforcements to defend Homs.

The Syrian military mentioned in an announcement on Saturday that it had carried out redeployment and repositioning in Soueida and Daraa after its checkpoints have been attacked by “terrorists”. The military mentioned it was establishing “a robust and coherent defensive and safety belt within the area”, apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

Because the Syrian battle erupted in March 2011, the Syrian authorities has described opposition gunmen as terrorists.

In gas-rich Qatar, the overseas ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey have been on account of meet to debate the scenario in Syria. Turkey is a serious backer of rebels looking for to overthrow Assad.

Qatar's high diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to make the most of a lull in combating lately to handle the nation's underlying issues. “Assad has didn’t take this chance to start to interact and restore his relations together with his folks,” he mentioned.

Sheikh Mohammed mentioned he was shocked by how shortly the rebels had superior and mentioned there was an actual risk to Syria's “territorial integrity”. He mentioned warfare may “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 Soueida early Saturday, Syrian authorities forces nonetheless management 5 provincial capitals: Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, in addition to Latakia and Tartous on the Mediterranean coast.

Tartus is house to the one Russian naval base exterior the previous Soviet Union, whereas Latakia is house to a serious Russian air base.

Fighters from the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday captured massive elements of the japanese province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq, in addition to the provincial capital of similar title. The seize of areas in Deir el-Zour is a blow to Iran's affect within the area, as this space is the gateway to the hall connecting the Mediterranean to Iran, a provide line for Iranian-backed fighters, together with Lebanese Hezbollah.

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

Marguerite Brennan

contributed to this report.