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Reports president Bashar al-Assad has fled the country as video shows army forces removing uniforms in streets
LIVE Updated 12m ago
- War observatory claims Assad has left the country
- A quick recap of events
- A look at HTS – the Islamist group leading the Syrian offensive
- Syrian President Assad has reportedly fled Damascus
- Syrian rebels enter capital Damascus
- Intense shooting heard in Syrian capital, Damascus
- Hezbollah withdrawal widens to Homs, Damascus outskirts
- The significance of Homs, then and now
- Hezbollah withdraws from strategic Syrian city of Qusayr
- Celebratory gunfire, thousands on streets, as insurgents take Homs
- As opposition forces gain ground, Trump says US should stay out of Syria
- Statue of Bashar al-Assad’s father torn down by crowd in Homs
- Images of Bashar al-Assad torn down in Homs
- Summary of the day
- Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani says insurgent forces have ‘fully liberated’ Syria’s central city of Homs, Reuters confirms
- Rebel leader says insurgents combing Homs after government army flees
- Government forces withdraw from much of central city of Homs
- Rebel fighters claim to have entered key city of Homs – report
- Residents of isolated Syrian refugee camp liberated after more than 10 years
- UN in Syria denies rumours it is evacuating all staff from country
- Syria minister says ‘very strong’ security cordon around Damascus – state TV
- At least 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Saturday
- Syrian rebels enter suburbs of Homs, according to Reuters
- Israel’s military assists UN forces against attack in Syria
- Hamas released a video claiming to show Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker in captivity.
- Trump says the US should have nothing to do with the conflict in Syria
- Bashar al-Assad remains in Damascus – state news agency
- Syrian rebels reach Damascus suburbs – rebel commander
Kate Lamb (now); Coral Murphy Marcos, Tom Ambrose and Hamish Mackay (earlier)Sun 8 Dec 2024 03.19 GMTShare
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From 7m ago
War observatory claims Assad has left the country
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad had left of the country, after losing swathes of territory to a lightning rebel offensive.Share
A quick recap of events
A lot has changed in 24 hours.
In the city of Homs, a statue of Assad’s father was symbolically torn down, after insurgents claimed control of the city.
Thousands took the streets amid rounds of celebratory gunfire.
The rapid advance of the coalition of rebel groups led by HTS has stunned not only observers and regional powers but also, it appears, the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Syrian rebels entered the capital Damascus and the whereabouts of the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are unknown.
Reuters reported that he left the country for an unknown location. A war monitor has also confirmed that Assad has left.
Meanwhile footage from the airport in Damascus show people chaotically streaming in.Share
A look at HTS – the Islamist group leading the Syrian offensive
For those catching up on the lightning offensive in Syria led by the armed Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former branch of al-Qaida, here is a look at its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has been described as a “pragmatic radical”.
Since breaking ties with Al-Qaida in 2016, Jolani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader. But he is yet to quell suspicions among analysts and western governments that still class HTS as a terrorist organisation.
Who is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of Syrian insurgents HTS?Read moreShare
Syrian President Assad has reportedly fled Damascus
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly left Damascus, boarding a plane for an unknown location, according to Reuters news, citing two senior Syrian officers familiar with the incident.
The Guardian was unable to independently confirm the report.
As the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson writes, the Syrian president has not been seen publicly for days, despite reassurances from the presidency that he was working and remained in Damascus just a few hours ago.
Assad did not publicly address the Syrian people or his troops even as the insurgents advanced toward Damascus, and questions begun to mount about his whereabouts.
Assad’s last appearance was a week ago, during an urgent meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus. The Syrian leader was pictured grinning despite the insurgents taking control of Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria only a day earlier.
Syria’s armed opposition meanwhile say they have taken control of the radio and television building in the centre of Damascus, as per Al Jazeera.Share
Updated at 02.34 GMT
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Syrian rebels enter capital Damascus
Rebel forces have entered the capital, Damascus, writes Guardian reporter Ruth Michaelson.
Video circulating online shows Syrian army forces removing their uniforms in the streets of the capital.
In a second post, the insurgents announced that they have begun freeing detainees from Sednaya prison, a notorious detention facility near Damascus.
Sednaya is considered a symbol of the Assad regime’s brutality, a place where tens of thousands of opponents of Assad’s rule have suffered extreme torture and abuse. The prison has been referred to over the years as a “human slaughterhouse”.
Here is what Amnesty International say about the facility:
Saydnaya Military Prison is located 30km north of Damascus, Syria. The prison is under the jurisdiction of the minister of defence and operated by the military police. Saydnaya became notorious for the use of torture and excessive force following a riot by detainees in 2008. There are two buildings on the Saydnaya site, which between them could contain 10,000-20,000 prisoners.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria in 2011, the prison has become the final destination for both peaceful opponents of the authorities as well as military personnel suspected of opposing the regime.
Meanwhile, there are reports that the Syrian army, and security forces, have left for Damascus International Airport, according to sources from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Share
Intense shooting heard in Syrian capital, Damascus
Hours after Syrian rebels claimed full control of the key city of Homs and continued their march to the capital, intense sounds of shooting have been heard in the centre of Damascus, residents have said.
The source of the shooting was not immediately clear, two residents who live in a residential area close to the centre of the capital said, as reported by Reuters.
Rebel advancements in the past 24 hours have left President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.Share
Hezbollah withdrawal widens to Homs, Damascus outskirts
After retreating from Qusayr, Hezbollah is now also pulling its forces from the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus and the Homs area, a source close to the Lebanese group said on Sunday, as their ally President Bashar al-Assad faces a rebel offensive.
The group “has instructed its fighters in recent hours to withdraw from the Homs area, with some heading to Latakia (in Syria) and others to the Hermel area in Lebanon”, the source told AFP, noting that “Hezbollah fighters have also vacated their positions around Damascus.”Share
The significance of Homs, then and now
Robert Mackey
It is hard to overstate the importance of the people of Homs to the start of the uprising against Assad in 2011, writes Robert Mackey.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/from-tool/looping-video/index.html?poster-image=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F08%2Fhoms_2011_JPG.jpg&mp4-video=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F08%2Fhoms_2011_1.mp4This footage shows protests in Homs in 2011, at the height of the initial demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad.
Homs was widely seen as the “capital of the revolution” when mass protests broke out during the Arab Spring. When Syrians first took to the streets in 2011, video posted online by Syrian activists throughout the spring of that year showed mass protests, often around the clock tower where rebels celebrated on Saturday.
In April, 2011, a government massacre of protesters who packed into the clock square in Homs chanting “The People Want to Topple the Regime!” helped spur the armed revolt that has continued to this day.
From the archive – 18-4-2011
13 years ago Syrians poured into the streets of Homs and occupied the new clock square, demanding the regime’s fall. This historic sit-in ended in a bloody massacre when security forces assaulted the protesters, firing live ammunition into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/JbOiUQqKua— Rami (@RamiSafadi93) April 18, 2024
Online, Syrian activists and journalists have been pointing to the significance of that moment in the history of the uprising as rebels and supporters of the movement to topple Assad celebrated around the clock tower on Saturday night.
Deraa was the cradle of the Syrian revolution; Homs became its capital. Regime opened fire on clock tower square sit-in👇killing 100+ in April 2011. Homs was then under siege by Assad’s army for 3 years. Tonight, Homs is liberated and rebels are freeing the detainees. pic.twitter.com/BphuCb7AeX— Rime Allaf (@rallaf) December 7, 2024
#Syria BREAKING: Rebel forces are in FULL control of the city of #Homs. The #Assad regime has been defeated.
Rebels celebrate around the clock tower, the epicenter of the Syrian Revolution. pic.twitter.com/J0h9ZqvDOU— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) December 7, 2024
It’s 2:32 am in Homs, Syria, now and videos keep coming from the city. It all started here in this square, with a humble clock tower that became the symbol of the city, and a symbol of the revolution. pic.twitter.com/2y894XSnkc— ammar azzouz 🪁 عمّار عزّوز (@Dr_Ammar_Azzouz) December 7, 2024
Following the brutal repression of peaceful protests in Homs, the Syrian Army first used heavy artillery against rebels in the Baba Amr district of the city. It was there that the veteran American war correspondent Marie Colvin, reporting for The Sunday Times of London, and a young French photographer, Rémi Ochlik, were killed by Assad’s forces in 2012. Colvin’s colleague Paul Conroy, a British journalist who survived the attack, remembered the activists in Homs who saved his life on Saturday.
Remembering all my friends from Homs who looked after us in the dark days of 2012 when Marie was killed and we were all so badly wounded. You never gave up on us, and many never made it through. Thank you all and enjoy the sweet taste of freedom. Shukran 🙏 ❤️❤️ #Syria #Homs— Paul Conroy @reflextv.bsky.social (@reflextv) December 7, 2024
Hezbollah withdraws from strategic Syrian city of Qusayr
As rebel forces claim the city of Homs, and start to encircle the Syrian capital city, Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah group has withdrawn from the strategic city of Qusayr, along the border with Lebanon, according to Reuters.
Qusayr has long been a major supply route for the militia’s arms transfers and flow of fighters in and out of Syria since Hezbollah seized it in 2013 in the early phase of the Syrian conflict.
In recent days Hezbollah had pledged to stand by the Syrian government.
But on Sunday Hezbollah withdrew from Qusayr before rebel forces seized it, Syrian army sources said. At least 150 armoured vehicles carrying hundreds of fighters left the city in phases.
Israel, which has repeatedly hit Hezbollah weapons depots and underground fortifications it had built in the city, hit one of the convoys that was leaving, one source said.Share
Celebratory gunfire, thousands on streets, as insurgents take Homs
Thousands of people are still out on the streets of Homs tonight, now just past 3am. The staccato blasts of celebratory gunfire can be heard throughout the city as cars honk their horns and people continue to celebrate its capture from Assad’s forces, writes Faisal Ali.
Updated at 01.25 GMT
As opposition forces gain ground, Trump says US should stay out of Syria
Donald Trump said the US should avoid engaging militarily in Syria as an insurgent offensive reached the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, according to the Associated Press.
The president-elect’s first extensive comments on the dramatic rebel push came on Saturday via his social media website. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT”, he wrote in a social media post.
Trump condemned the overall US handling of what is a 13-year war in Syria. But, he added, “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
Separately, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening militarily but would keep acting as necessary to keep the Islamic State group from exploiting openings presented by the fighting.Share
Updated at 01.19 GMT
Statue of Bashar al-Assad’s father torn down by crowd in Homs
Elsewhere in Homs, a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, has been torn down by a large crowd, writes our contributor Faisal Ali.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/from-tool/looping-video/index.html?poster-image=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F07%2Fstatue.jpg&mp4-video=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F07%2Fstatue.mp4The toppling of the status.Share
Updated at 01.16 GMT
Images of Bashar al-Assad torn down in Homs
The city of Homs has witnessed an outpouring of emotions this evening. Many are celebrating what they believe to be the imminent fall of the Assad regime, and others have begun tearing down images of the president. Here is a clip we’ve looped from the centre of Homs, filmed at the Officers’ Club hotel.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/from-tool/looping-video/index.html?poster-image=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F07%2FYYMMDDVideoTitle.00_00_00_00.Still003.jpg&mp4-video=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.guim.co.uk%2F2024%2F12%2F07%2FJMS_Officers_club.mp4People tearing down images of Bashar al-Assad at the Officers’ Club in the centre of Homs.Share
Updated at 01.18 GMT
Summary of the day
It is approaching 1am in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 2am in Damascus.
- Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said early on Sunday that insurgent forces had “fully liberated” Syria’s central city of Homs, Reuters confirms. Homs is a city of strategic and hugely symbolic importance to the militants and to the opposition as a whole.
- Syrian opposition forces have begun to encircle the capital city of Damascus after a lightning offensive brought rebel factions to Bashar al-Assad’s doorstep and led the president’s office to deny he had fled the country.
- Government forces have withdrawn from much of the central city of Homs, according to a Syrian opposition war monitor and a pro-government media outlet.
- Speaking in Doha, the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he had secured the joint agreement from the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Russia to hold urgent talks in Geneva with a date to be agreed upon shortly.
- Protesters brought down the statue of the late father of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, in a main square in Jaramana suburb, nearly 10km from the centre of Damascus.
- The UN in Syria denied rumours that it was evacuating all staff from the country, but confirmed that it is “strategically reducing its footprint by relocating non-critical staff outside the country”.
- At least 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Saturday, according to local health officials.
- Lebanon’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes had killed six people in the country’s south, just 10 days into a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Updated at 23.35 GMT
Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani says insurgent forces have ‘fully liberated’ Syria’s central city of Homs, Reuters confirms
Faisal Ali
Al Jazeera Mubasher has been broadcasting live footage early Sunday of crowds gathered in the city centre of Homs near the historic clock tower celebrating the city’s capture by rebel forces.
Updated at 22.50 GMT
William Christou
Syrian opposition forces have begun to encircle the capital city of Damascus after a lightning offensive brought rebel factions to Bashar al-Assad’s doorstep and led the president’s office to deny he had already fled the country.
The advance came just a week after Islamist insurgents led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) retook Aleppo in northern Syria, inspiring rebel factions all across the country to rise up against the Syrian army.
Overnight, opposition factions in the southern provinces of Daraa and Suwayda routed government forces and took control over wide swathes of the district. By the afternoon, opposition fighters had entered Daraya, about 5 miles from the centre of the capital. East of Damascus, members of the Free Syrian Army took control over the ancient city of Palmyra.
As rebels advanced from the south and east towards the capital city, forces led by HTS began fighting the Syrian army in the central Syrian city of Homs. Homs is a strategic asset for the Syrian government, linking it to Tartous and Latakia – provinces where Assad has traditionally enjoyed strong support.
Syrian state media reported that government forces were concentrating on stopping HTS’s advance in Homs, carrying out heavy airstrikes on rebel forces there and sending reinforcements to the central Syrian city.
If Homs were to fall to the rebels, the government would be besieged in Damascus. Opposition forces would be advancing from the north, south and east of the country.
The government in neighbouring Iraq said that 2,000 Syrian soldiers had fled across their border. Al Jazeera showed footage of Syrian tanks and other military vehicles packed with soldiers crossing into Iraq.
Read the latest developments coming from Syria here:
Syrian rebels say they have advanced into Damascus as residents report sound of gunfireRead moreShare
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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/07/syria-rebels-reach-damascus-bashar-al-assad
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Syria
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