Syrian government appears to have fallen as 50-year rule of Assad family ends

The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early on Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a lightning rebel offensive.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said president Bashar Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a stunning advance across the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.

“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Mr Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.

He did not address reports that Mr Assad had left the country.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Associated Press that Mr Assad took a flight on Sunday from Damascus.

State television in Iran, Mr Assad’s main backer in the years of war in Syria, reported that Mr Assad had left the capital. It cited Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network for the information and did not elaborate.

There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government.

An Associated Press (AP) journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road in the outskirts of the capital and hearing sounds of gunshots.

The city’s main police headquarters appeared to be abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside. Another AP journalist shot footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms were discarded on the ground under a poster of Mr Assad’s face.

Residents of the capital reported hearing gunfire and explosions. Footage broadcast on opposition-linked media showed a tank in one of the capital’s central squares while a small group of people gathered in celebration. Calls of “God is great” rang out from mosques.

It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a years-long siege.

The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that the Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights halted.

The insurgents also announced they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “liberated” their prisoners there.

The night before, opposition forces took the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it.

The city stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

The government denied rumours that Mr Assad had fled the country.

Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Homs without elaborating. Mr Abdurrahman said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies withdrew from the city, adding that rebels entered parts of it.

The insurgency announced later on Saturday that it had taken over Homs. The rebels had already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began on November 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.

The rebels’ moves into Damascus came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.

The fall of Damascus would leave government forces in control of only two of 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.

The advances in the past week were by far the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the United Nations.

In their push to overthrow Mr Assad’s government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.

The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Mr Assad’s erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war.

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition”.

Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Mr Assad’s chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people”.

In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria’s border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Lebanese border officials closed the main Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many stuck waiting.

Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price.

The UN said it was moving non-critical staff outside the country as a precaution.