Crowds gathered in Damascus on Sunday to celebrate with songs, prayers and occasional gunfire after the stunning advance of opposition forces. end of 50 years of iron rule of the Assad family but raised questions about the future of the country and the region as a whole.
President Bashar Assad and other officials have left Syria without knowing their whereabouts after resigning and holding negotiations with rebel groups, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Omar Sanadiki / AP
In a message posted on messaging app Telegram on Sunday, the ministry said Assad left Syria after negotiations with opposition fighters and gave “instructions” to “transfer power peacefully.” .
“Russia did not participate in these negotiations,” the ministry said, adding that it was following “with extreme concern” the “dramatic events” in Syria.
The White House told CBS News it did not know where Assad was. President Biden is meeting with his national security team on Sunday morning to discuss the latest developments in Syria, a White House source said.
It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops retook areas on the outskirts of the capital after a year-long siege.
Hussein Malla / AP
Videos from Damascus showed families wandering around the presidential palace, some emerging with piles of plates and other household items.
“I didn’t sleep last night and refused to sleep until I heard the news of his fall,” said Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works in the tourism sector. ‘electricity. “From Idlib to Damascus, it only took them (the opposition forces) a few days, thank God. God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.”
Ghaith Alsayed / AP
The rapidly unfolding events have shaken the region. Lebanon announced that it was closing its land borders with Syria, with the exception of the one linking Beirut to Damascus. Jordan also closed a border crossing with Syria.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaeda commander who severed ties with the group years ago and says he favors pluralism and religious tolerance, leads the largest rebel faction and is ready to chart the future direction of the country.
Hussein Malla / AP
The rebels now face the daunting task of bridging bitter divisions in a war-torn country still divided between different armed factions. Turkey-backed opposition fighters are battling U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in the north, and the Islamic State group is still active in some remote areas.
Syrian state television broadcast a video statement Sunday morning from a group of rebels saying Assad had been toppled and all prisoners released. The man who read the statement called on rebel fighters and citizens to preserve the institutions of the “Free Syrian State.”
Reactions from around the world
Iran, which strongly supported Assad’s ousted government, says Syrians should decide their country’s future “without destructive and coercive foreign intervention.”
The Foreign Ministry’s statement on Sunday was the country’s first official reaction to the overthrow of Assad’s government by rebel forces.
The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on Saturday for urgent negotiations in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition”.
Gulf country Qatar, a key regional mediator, hosted an emergency meeting of foreign ministers and senior officials from eight countries with interests in Syria on Saturday evening. Participants included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.
“President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and remain in constant contact with regional partners,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett wrote on social media.
Saudi Press Agency via AP
The French Foreign Ministry said France “welcomes” the fall of Assad’s government “after more than 13 years of violent repression against its own people.”
The ministry said in a statement: “The Syrian people have suffered too much. Bashar al-Assad has bled the country, emptied of a large part of its population who, if not forced into exile, have been massacred, tortured and bombarded with chemical weapons by the Syrian forces and its allies.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed understanding for the relief felt by the Syrian people after the fall of Assad’s government, but warned that “the country must not now fall into the hands of other radicals.”
“Several hundred thousand Syrians have been killed in the civil war, millions have fled,” Baerbock said in an emailed statement Sunday from his office. “Assad murdered, tortured and used poison gas against his own people. He must finally be held accountable for this.”
Syria’s war began in 2011 when a pro-democracy uprising calling for an end to Assad’s long rule quickly turned into a brutal civil war. Since then, the conflict has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced some 12 million people from their homes.
Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.
