Syrians celebrate end of the Assad family’s half-century rule after president flees country

Crowds gathered in Damascus on Sunday to have fun with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after the gorgeous advance from opposition forces put an end to the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule however raised questions on the way forward for the nation and the broader area.

President Bashar Assad and different officers left Syria, their whereabouts unknown, after resigning and internet hosting negotiations with insurgent teams, Russia’s International Ministry claimed Sunday.

In a put up on the Telegram messaging app 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 has been following the “dramatic occasions” in Syria “with excessive concern.”

The White Home instructed CBS Information it was unaware of Assad’s whereabouts. 

It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018 when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.

Movies from Damascus confirmed households wandering into the presidential palace, with some rising carrying stacks of plates and different home items.

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

The quickly growing occasions have shaken the area. Lebanon mentioned it was closing its land border crossings with Syria apart from one which hyperlinks Beirut with Damascus. Jordan additionally closed a border crossing with Syria.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida commander who lower ties with the group years in the past and says he embraces pluralism and non secular tolerance, leads the most important insurgent faction and is poised to chart the nation’s future path.

The rebels now face the daunting process of therapeutic bitter divides in a rustic ravaged by warfare and nonetheless break up amongst totally 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 energetic in some distant areas.

Syrian state tv aired a video assertion early Sunday by a bunch of rebels saying that Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been let out. The person who learn the assertion referred to as on insurgent fighters and residents to protect the establishments of “the free Syrian state.”

Response from all over the world

Iran, which had strongly backed Assad’s deposed authorities, says Syrians ought to resolve their nation’s future “with out damaging, coercive, international intervention.”

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

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

The Gulf nation of Qatar, a key regional mediator, hosted an emergency assembly of international ministers and prime officers from eight nations with pursuits in Syria late Saturday. The contributors included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.

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

The French International Affairs 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 Assad has bled dry nation, emptied of a giant a part of its individuals who, if not pressured into exile, have been massacred, tortured and bombarded with chemical weapons by the regime and its allies.”

German International Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed understanding for the aid Syrian individuals felt 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 warfare, hundreds of thousands have fled,” Baerbock mentioned in an announcement emailed by her workplace Sunday. “Assad has murdered, tortured and used poison gasoline in opposition to his personal individuals. He should lastly be held accountable for this.”

The warfare in Syria started in 2011 when a pro-democracy rebellion calling for the top of Assad’s lengthy reign escalated rapidly right into a brutal civil warfare. Since then, the battle has killed greater than 500,000 individuals and displaced some 12 million from their properties.