Syrians rejoice finish of half-century of Assad household rule after president flees

Crowds gathered in Damascus on Sunday to rejoice with songs, prayers and occasional gunfire after the beautiful advance of opposition forces. end of 50 years of iron rule of the Assad family however raised questions on the way forward for the nation and the area as an entire.

President Bashar Assad and different officers have left Syria with out figuring out their whereabouts after resigning and holding negotiations with insurgent teams, the Russian International Ministry mentioned on Sunday.

In a message posted on messaging app Telegram on Sunday, the ministry mentioned Assad left Syria after negotiations with opposition fighters and gave “directions” to “switch energy peacefully.” .

“Russia didn’t take part in these negotiations,” the ministry mentioned, including that it was following “with excessive concern” the “dramatic occasions” in Syria.

The White Home advised CBS Information it didn’t know the place Assad was. President Biden is assembly along with his nationwide safety crew on Sunday morning to debate the newest developments in Syria, a White Home supply mentioned.

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.

The chief of Syria's largest rebel group visited the Syrian capital's sprawling Umayyad mosque and declared victory in opposition to Assad “is a victory for the Islamic nation.”

Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously often known as Abu Mohammed al-Golanimade his first public look and remarks for the reason that fighters entered Damascus. He advised tons of of individuals on the historic mosque that Assad had made Syria “a farm for Iran's greed.” He added that Assad had made Syria a base for the unlawful amphetamine Captagon, which introduced cash to Assad's circles.

Movies from Damascus confirmed households wandering across the presidential palace, some rising with piles of plates and different home goods.

“I didn't sleep final evening and refused to sleep till I heard the information of his fall,” mentioned Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works within the tourism sector. 'electrical energy. “From Idlib to Damascus, it solely took them (the opposition forces) a couple of days, thank God. God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.”

The quickly unfolding occasions have shaken the area. Lebanon introduced that it was closing its land borders with Syria, except the one linking Beirut to Damascus. Jordan additionally closed a border crossing with Syria.

The rebels now face the daunting job 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 remains to be energetic in some distant areas.

Syrian state tv broadcast a video assertion Sunday morning from a gaggle of rebels saying Assad had been toppled and all prisoners launched. The person who learn the assertion known as on insurgent fighters and residents to protect the establishments of the “Free Syrian State.”

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Iran, which strongly supported Assad's ousted authorities, says Syrians ought to determine their nation's future “with out damaging and coercive international intervention.”

The International Ministry's assertion on Sunday was the nation's first official response to the overthrow of Assad's authorities by insurgent forces.

The UN particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, known as on Saturday for pressing negotiations 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 nations with pursuits in Syria on Saturday night. Members included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.

“President Biden and his crew are carefully 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 French International Ministry mentioned France “welcomes” the autumn of Assad's authorities “after greater than 13 years of violent repression in opposition to its personal individuals.”

The ministry mentioned in an announcement: “The Syrian individuals have suffered an excessive amount of. Bashar al-Assad has bled the nation, emptied of a big a part of its inhabitants who, if not pressured into exile, have been massacred, tortured and bombarded with chemical weapons by Syrian forces. the regime and its allies. »

German International Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed understanding for the aid felt by the Syrian individuals after the autumn of Assad's authorities, however warned that “the nation should not now fall into the palms of different radicals.”

“A number of hundred thousand Syrians have been killed within the civil struggle, tens of millions have fled,” Baerbock mentioned in an emailed assertion Sunday from his workplace. “Assad murdered, tortured and used poison gasoline in opposition to his personal individuals. He should lastly be held accountable for this.”

Germany has the biggest Syrian diaspora within the European Union, greater than one million robust. 1000’s of jubilant Syrians gathered in Berlin on Sunday to rejoice Assad's fall, honking automotive horns and waving Syrian opposition flags, AFP reported.

“We’re blissful. The dictatorship is over. Assad is gone,” Ahmed, 39, who most popular to not give his final identify, advised AFP.

“All Syrians at the moment are collectively,” mentioned the railway technician, who fled the northern Syrian metropolis of Aleppo in 2015.

Syria's struggle started in 2011 when a pro-democracy rebellion calling for an finish to Assad's lengthy rule rapidly become a brutal civil struggle. Since then, the battle has killed greater than 500,000 individuals and displaced some 12 million individuals from their houses.

Marguerite Brennan

contributed to this report.