Syrians cheer fall of Assad, region reacts

The Syrian opposition announced on Sunday the fall of President Bashar al-Assad after their forces entered the capital, Damascus, ending the more than 50-year rule of the Assad family in Syria.

Syrian state TV stopped its broadcasting later on Sunday and aired a statement that read: “Victory of the great Syrian revolution and fall of the criminal Assad regime.”

In a statement aired on Syrian state TV earlier Sunday, a group of opposition fighters who have been leading a major assault against government forces since Nov. 27 said they “liberated” Damascus and overthrew “the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” adding that all detainees held in the regime's prisons have been released.

Hadi al-Bahra, head of Syria's main opposition group abroad known as the Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, said in a statement on Sunday that Damascus is now “without Bashar al-Assad.”

Rebel forces have been posting videos and photos from inside the presidential palace and Assad’s house since early Sunday, following reports about Assad fleeing the country.

Swathes of people took to the streets of Damascus and elsewhere in Syria, cheering the fall of Assad and chanting “Long live Syria.”

Statues of late Syrian President and Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad across Syria were taken down and destroyed.

Assad reportedly flew out of Damascus hours before the rebels reached the city, according to data from the Flightradar website. His whereabouts remain unknown despite unconfirmed reports that he headed to Dubai.

Some members of Assad’s family reportedly fled to Moscow last week, a few days after the rebels launched their offensive in northern Syria in November.

The fall of Assad comes just a little over a week after the rebels — led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and comprised of other opposition groups, including the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army — launched a surprise assault on the government-held northern province of Aleppo on Nov. 27, quickly taking control of the key provinces of Hama and Homs before arriving at the gates of Damascus on Saturday.

The Assad family has ruled Syria with an iron fist since Hafez al-Assad assumed power in 1971. He was succeeded by his son Bashar after his death in 2000. In 2011, anti-regime protests began in southern Syria, to which government forces responded with violence, triggering a long and brutal civil war across the country.

Assad managed to regain control of much of Syria’s territories over the past years, with heavy backing from Iran and its proxies as well as Russia.

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In the first official comments from the United Arab Emirates on the fall of Assad, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said Sunday the events in Syria were a “clear indication of political failure.”

“We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don’t just see another episode of impending chaos,” he added.

Asked whether Assad was in the UAE, Gargash dismissed the question, saying it was a “footnote in history.”

For its part, Qatar said Sunday it had no confirmation that Assad was received in any capital in the region.

“The situation has changed. He is no longer president,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters at the Doha Forum held in the Qatari capital on Sunday.

“We haven’t had any engagement with the Syrian regime. We have maintained our position with respect to the Syrian regime because we have always said that the sacrifice of the Syrian people should not be overlooked,” he added.

Other forces in the region hailed the fall of Assad. The head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, wrote on X on Sunday, “We are witnessing historic moments with the fall of the authoritarian regime in Damascus. This change is an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that guarantees the rights of all Syrians.”

In parallel with the rebels’ gains in northern and central Syria in the past days, the SDF took full control of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria and the nearby al-Bukamal crossing with Iraq on Friday after the withdrawal of government forces, in another blow to Assad.