Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Damascus to an unknown location, with the rebel forces into the capital, in a turning point in the 13-year country civil war.
The senior Syrian military sources said Assad left on a private plane after the rebel forces gained strategic ground that included the seizure of Homs, Reuters reported. The residents of Damascus panicked as they scrambled to stock supplies and withdraw their money from banks, expecting more chaos to erupt.
Declaring the “end of tyranny”, the Islamist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the offensive, announced it freed prisoners from the notorious Saydnaya facility, famous for alleged human rights abuses. The group said it intended to transmit a victory statement over state television, which, sources say, had halted its official broadcasts.
Hezbollah, one of the significant allies of Assad, has retreated its forces from key locations like Damascus and Homs, to which the government is losing its grip. The analysts are of the view that their internal wars have not let the allies of Assad succeed in protecting the regime.
Middle East expert Natasha Hall said, “This appears to be the conclusion of more than half a century of rule by the Assad family.” Still, there is worry about what this will mean for HTS, which has its origins in extremist movements, even though the group has been trying in recent months to rebrand as a nationalist force.
The rapid developments in Syria’s capital raise questions about the nation’s future governance and stability. While many do celebrate the apparent regime collapse, uncertainty continues to hover as to how the disparate factions coalesce into a unified, coherent leadership.
As events further unfolded, international reactions were mixed, with the U.S. under its soon-to-be new administration signifying no intervention; its old masters, Russia and Iran, must deal with the broader distraction of other global contests that can reshape Syria’s political architecture.
This is the decisive moment for Syria and its people as they are at the point of great transformation.
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