The Assad family’s decadeslong reign in Syria came to an abrupt end Sunday when rebel forces captured Damascus after a stunning lightning-strike rout across the country.
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, senior commander of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), claimed victory for the rebel forces that stormed across Syria in a matter of days and entered Damascus overnight.
“We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” he said in a post on WhatsApp. “To the displaced people around the world, Free Syria awaits you.”
People celebrate with anti-government fighters Sunday at Umayyad Square in Damascus.Louai Beshara / AFP – Getty Images
Videos circulating on social media and verified by NBC News appeared to show Syrians celebrating across Damascus overnight and into the day, as crowds honked horns, waved flags and fired their guns into the air, while others posed for selfies standing on top of a tank.
Photos and video showed people toppling statues of Hafez al-Assad, father of ousted President Bashar Al-Assad, in cities across Syria, including in the Assad stronghold of Latakia.
Assad fled the country and relinquished the presidency. That was confirmed by patron Russia, which supported the regime in crushing what started as a peaceful protest movement and became a vicious civil war.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in 2019.SANA via AP file
“As a result of negotiations between Bashar Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully,” according to a Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry statement.
Russian state media reported Sunday that Assad fled to Moscow. A senior Biden administration official confirmed that Russia has given Assad asylum.
Syria’s prime minister, Ghazi al-Jalali, remained in his home, he said in an earlier statement, and does not intend to leave “except in a peaceful manner that ensures the continued functioning of public institutions and state facilities, promoting security and reassurance for our fellow citizens.”
He said the government is ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people.”
HTS General Command said it also freed the people being held in Sednaya Prison. The Syrian government has detained thousands at the military prison on the outskirts of Damascus, according to Reuters.
“We announce to the Syrian people the news of the liberation of our captives and the breaking of their chains, proclaiming the end of the era of oppression in Sednaya Prison.”
Syrian state radio, Sham FM, reported that Damascus International Airport had been evacuated, all employees removed and all flights suspended. It was not clear Sunday who was in charge of the state outlet.
An opposition fighter steps on a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday.Hussein Malla / APInternational reaction
President Joe Biden on Sunday lauded the fall of the Assad regime.