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Syrian insurgents enter Damascus amid reports of Assad fleeing

December 8th 2024 , , ,
Damascus Mosque Photo illustration: T Foz via Pixabay

Syrian insurgents, who launched an offensive against the Syrian government just eleven days ago, announced their entry into Damascus early Sunday morning, declaring the city “free” of Bashar al-Assad, amid reports that the president had left the country on a “special” plane with no known destination.

The Military Operations Command of the coalition of Islamist and pro-Turkish groups leading the insurgent offensive issued a statement saying that Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world, is “free from the tyrant Bashar al Assad,” while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Syrian president left the city’s airport on a “special” plane.

The UK-based NGO, which has a large network of collaborators on the ground, also indicated that “regime security troops officers withdrew from Damascus International Airport following the takeoff of a private plane likely carrying Bashar al-Assad.”

There has been no communication from the government loyal to Al Assad so far.

"This is the moment that the displaced and prisoners have long awaited, the moment of returning home and the moment of freedom after decades of oppression and suffering," the Islamist alliance added in a statement.

Meanwhile, sources in Damascus reported that the main building of Syrian radio and television had been taken over by unidentified gunmen, who had ordered the facilities to be abandoned, while thousands of people gathered in Umayyad Square, one of the city's nerve centres, where, in addition to the television station, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence and the Army are located.

The Islamists also confirmed the seizure of the Saydnaya military prison, located about 30 kilometers north of Syria and one of the centers of repression of the regime of Bashar al Assad, and the release of its prisoners.

A few hours earlier, rebels led by the Levant Liberation Organization (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS in Arabic), heir to the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, announced the total capture of the city of Homs, located about 160 kilometers north of Damascus, a claim that was denied at the time by the army loyal to Damascus.

However, Al Jazeera reported celebrations in the streets of Homs, where hundreds of people gathered at the iconic "clock roundabout" in the city centre, demanding the fall of the Syrian president.

This symbolic site was the scene of a massacre in April 2011, at the start of the conflict, when at least 18 protesters were killed by security forces.

The insurgent offensive began on November 27 and in just a few days has destroyed the defenses of the Damascus government, taking first Aleppo, the country's second largest city, and then Hama.

In the last two days, while HTS troops attacked Homs, north of Damascus, three provincial capitals in the south of the country rebelled and fell into the hands of local factions of the insurgents, amid announcements of "withdrawals" by the pro-government military forces. EFE

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