Syrian rebels defeat Assad after 14 years of war

Syrian rebels have toppled Bashar al-Assad, ending his family’s 54-year authoritarian rule after nearly 14 years of war.

Opposition fighters entered Damascus around 5am local time without resistance, quickly capturing the international airport, the state TV building and many other strategic government facilities. 

Government forces and personnel reportedly withdrew from their positions, allowing a smooth takeover for the rebels. 

Assad himself reportedly boarded a plane before rebels reached the capital and fled to an unknown location. His current whereabouts are unclear. 

Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said in a video that he was staying in Syria and ready to support continuity of governance.

“This country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbours and the world,” Jalali said in his video address.

He was later seen being led out of his residence to the Four Seasons Hotel to oversee the transition and told Al Arabiya television channel that Syria should hold free elections.

Rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, more commonly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, instructed fighters to not go near public institutions, which he said would remain under the supervision of the “former prime minister” until they are officially handed over.

Marching towards the capital

Even compared to the stunning collapse of Syrian government forces in cities across the country over the past 12 days, the fall of Damascus was shockingly fast.

On 27 November, rebel forces led by Jolani’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) burst out of the opposition enclave in Idlib province. Aleppo, Syria’s second city, fell in three days.

Over the next week, rebels took Hama and Homs, with little resistance from demoralised Syrian troops. Assad’s forces also pulled out of Deir Ezzor in the east, which was then taken by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.

On Friday, the Syrian army withdrew from southern Daraa, known as the cradle of the revolution as the site of the first protests against Assad’s rule in 2011.

Syrian rebels who had regularised their status via Russian mediation in 2018 then rose up again and started heading towards Damascus, seizing Quneitra on the border with Israel and the Golan Heights on the way.

By Saturday afternoon, towns in the Damascus countryside such as Daraya and Moamadiya were in rebel hands. That night, they entered the city.

Residents described chaotic scenes to Middle East Eye. Buses carted military personnel out of the major Mazzeh air base.

Traffic was at a standstill, almost all the shops were closed, and there has been an electricity blackout in many parts of the city since dawn prayers on Saturday morning.

“It’s so crowded, people are running like ants,” a resident of al-Midan told MEE as the rebels moved closer to the city centre.

Throughout their advance, rebels have flung open the doors of notorious prisons holding hundreds of political prisoners. Sednaya, just north of Damascus, has the most brutal reputation. At least 30,000 people are believed to have died in that prison alone since the war began.

Video footage circulating on social media appeared to show rebel fighters opening cells in Sednaya to find dozens of women and even young children. 

‘A watershed moment’

Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, described the fall of Assad’s government as a “watershed moment”. He called the civil war a “dark chapter” that has left “deep scars”.

“Today we look forward with cautious hope to the opening of a new one – one of peace, reconciliation, dignity, and inclusion for all Syrians,” he said.

Syria’s war began in 2011 when Assad’s troops violently cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. Around half a million people have died in the conflict, which has displaced 12 million Syrians, half of whom are now residing abroad.

The instability led to the rise of the Islamic State group and refugee crises in Turkey, Lebanon and Europe.

The Syrian government used chemical weapons to attack civilians in the Damascus countryside and the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, shocking the world but avoiding a major western military intervention nonetheless.

Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Iraqi paramilitaries rode to Assad’s rescue, providing punishing air strikes, strategic experience and boots on the ground.

Rebel-held areas across the country were besieged and bombed until green buses carried fighters and civilians northwest, where the last opposition redoubt was found in Idlib and the Aleppo countryside. 

Meanwhile, US-backed Kurdish forces in the northeast fought for their own autonomy, prompting several military assaults from Turkey and the rebel groups it supports.

“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer,” US President-elect Donald Trump posted on X.

“Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success.”

The White House said President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria”.

Meanwhile, the Iranian embassy in Damascus was reportedly stormed, while Iraq evacuated its diplomatic staff. Russia said its embassy staff were safe.