Syrian rebels topple President Assad, Russia says he left the country

Bashar al-Assad leaves Syria after giving instructions to 'transfer power peacefully'

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, Updated At : 11:33 PM Dec 08, 2024 IST

Rebel fighters sit together in Homs countryside, after Syrian rebels pressed their lightning advance on Saturday, saying they had seized most of the south, as government forces dug in to defend the key central city of Homs to try to save President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule, in Syria December 7, 2024. REUTERS

Following a surge in operations by opposition-backed armed rebels in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country while the Capital city of Damascus has been "taken over" by the rebels.

The Assad family has been ruling the country for 53 years and faced allegations of running the country in an autocratic manner.

The last 14 years were marked by a civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.

“Damascus (the capital city) has been liberated and the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown, and oppressed prisoners in regime prisons have been released,” a spokesperson for the armed rebels, who led the fight against the President, was quoted as saying by news agencies.

Assad’s ouster today had its roots in the 2011 protests and the subsequent civil war during which the ousted President lost control over vast territories. Russia, which had backed the Assad regime, too said the President had left office and departed the country after giving orders for a “peaceful handover of power”.

In the US, National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett wrote on X that President Joe Biden and his advisers were “closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners”. There are about 900 US troops in Syria who are yet to be relocated.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali (as quoted by Reuters) said the “government stood ready to cooperate with any leadership the people chose”.

Opposition leader Abu Mohammad Al-Julani said all state institutions would remain under the supervision of Assad’s PM until “these were handed over officially”. Al-Julani heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and has ruled the governorate of Idlib for years before the latest offensive was launched.

The events in Syria over the past few weeks are like a re-run of the happenings in Bangladesh where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee her country in August following street protests. Hasina had boarded a military plane and landed in India. In 2021, the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan in a similar fashion.

Adding to the developments in Syria, US President-elect Donald Trump posted on X, “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend…. The US should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved.”

The US, Russia, Iran and Turkey have in the past intervened at various points in time in Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said Assad's fall was a direct fallout of the blows Israel had dealt to Iran and its ally Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the “barbaric state had fallen". He paid tribute to the Syrian people.

The Iranian embassy was stormed by Syrian rebels, Iran's media reported. In response, Tehran said Syria's fate was the sole responsibility of the Syrian people and should be “pursued without foreign imposition or destructive intervention”.