AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as militants announced they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom,” witnesses said.
“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” said the militants.
Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by militants, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Official institutions in Damascus to remain under the prime minister
The leader of Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, ordered forces Sunday not to approach official institutions in Damascus, saying they would remain under the prime minister until they are “officially” handed over.
“To all military forces in the city of Damascus, it is strictly forbidden to approach public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over,” Jolani said in a statement on Telegram, using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa instead of his nom de guerre, and adding: “It is forbidden to shoot into the air.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Jalali said Sunday he was ready to “cooperate” with any leadership chosen by the people.
In a speech broadcast on his Facebook account, premier Jalali said “this country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world.”
“But this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with it (that leadership) and offer all possible facilities,” he added.
Jalali said he was “ready for any handover procedures.”
Just hours earlier, militants announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.
Intense sounds of shooting were heard in the center of the Damascus, two residents said on Sunday, although it was not immediately clear what the source of the shooting was.
In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former militants took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule.
Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar Assad.”
Militants fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.
The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.
Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the militant movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the militants and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the main militant leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”
Militants freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.
Syrian militant commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and militant forces were looking toward the capital.
Existential threat to region
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.
But there was no indication they agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.
Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in big outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plot attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the strongest militant group, is the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.
Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the militants captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.
When asked on Saturday whether he believed Golani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group withdrew from the Syrian city of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon before militant forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.
At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, long a point on the route for arms transfers and fighters moving in and out of Syria, the sources said. Israel hit one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.
Allies’ role in supporting Assad
Assad long relied on allies to subdue the militants. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should not be involved in the conflict and should “let it play out.”
