In a stunning announcement on Sunday morning, rebel forces in Syria declared that "the free Syrian people have toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad," signaling the collapse of the embattled president’s rule.
The declaration came after the rebels successfully breached the capital, Damascus, and began searching for Assad, who had reportedly fled the city.
Earlier in the day, rebel forces took control of several key positions within Damascus, including the Saydnaya military prison on the city’s outskirts, which they claimed to have freed prisoners from. According to multiple sources from the rebel factions, there appeared to be no Syrian army presence in the capital.
Al Jazeera reported that senior military officers and security officials had already evacuated the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Damascus.
Meanwhile, two senior Syrian officers told Reuters that President Assad had left the capital for an undisclosed location. Syrian sources confirmed that Assad’s plane had taken off shortly after the rebels’ advance, but it vanished from radar shortly thereafter. The fate of the aircraft remains unclear. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group based in London, reported that Syrian military and security forces had also evacuated Damascus International Airport as rebel forces moved closer to the city.
In the wake of Assad’s apparent flight, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Razi Al-Jalali issued a statement acknowledging the fall of the regime. He expressed his readiness to cooperate with any new leadership chosen by the Syrian people, calling for national unity and rationality in the face of the country's uncertainty.
"I am ready to support the continued management of the country's affairs," Al-Jalali said. "We are ready to cooperate with any leadership the people choose. We extend a hand to every Syrian citizen who wishes to preserve the country’s capabilities, and we believe that Syria belongs to all Syrians."
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