AMMAN/BEIRUT/CAIRO: Syrian rebels declared they had ousted President Bashar al-Assad after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing him to flee and ending his family’s decades of autocratic rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East.
The rebels also dealt a major blow to the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria in the heart of the region – allies who had propped up Assad during critical periods in the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Assad’s fall was a direct result of blows dealt by Israel to Iran and its ally Hezbollah.
The rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments. Thousands of people in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom” from a half century of Assad family rule, witnesses said.
People were seen walking inside the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, with some leaving carrying furniture from inside. The rebels said prisoners had been freed from a large jail on the outskirts of Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.
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“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains,” the rebels said.
Leading rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani said there was no room for turning back and the group was determined to continue the path they started in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings.
“The future is ours,” he said in a statement read on Syria’s state TV after his forces took over Damascus.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “the barbaric state has fallen” and paid tribute to the Syrian people.
DAUNTING TASK AHEAD
When the celebrations fade, Syria’s new leaders will face the daunting task of trying to deliver stability to a diverse country with competing factions that will need billions of dollars in aid and investments to rebuild.
One possible challenge could be a resurgence of Islamic State militants.
During its prime, the group imposed a reign of terror in large swathes of Syria and Iraq and directed external operations before it was defeated by a U.S.-led coalition.
Underscoring the lightning changes, Iran’s embassy was stormed by Syrian rebels, Iran’s English-language Press TV reported.
Lebanese-based Hezbollah, which provided crucial support to Assad for years, withdrew all of its forces from Syria on Saturday as rebel factions approached Damascus, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters on Sunday.
Assad, who had not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination earlier on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters.
His whereabouts now – and those of his wife Asma and their two children – were unknown. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Assad had left office and departed the country after giving orders there be a peaceful handover of power.
The Syrian rebel coalition said it was continuing work to complete the transfer of power in the country to a transitional governing body with full executive powers.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” it added in a statement.
As Syrians expressed joy, Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali called for free elections.
Jalali also said he had been in contact with Golani to discuss managing the transitional period, marking a notable development in efforts to shape Syria’s political future.
The collapse of Assad’s rule followed a shift in the balance of power in the Middle East after many leaders of Hezbollah, a lynchpin of Assad’s battlefield force, were killed by Israel over the past two months.
Russia, a staunch Assad ally, intervened decisively in 2015 to help Assad during Syria’s civil war. But it has been tied down by the Ukraine war.
US TO MAINTAIN PRESENCE
Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in a string of outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plot attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states.
The frontlines were dormant for years. Then Islamists who had once been affiliated with Al Qaeda suddenly burst into action in late November.
The pace of events stunned Arab capitals and raised concerns about a new wave of instability in a region already in turmoil following the eruption after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Gaza war.
It marks a turning point for Syria, shattered by years of war which has turned cities to rubble and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Western governments, which have shunned the Assad-led state for years, must decide how to deal with a new administration in which a globally designated terrorist group – Golani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – looks set to have influence.
The United States will continue to maintain its presence in eastern Syria and will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro said at a conference in Manama on Sunday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said “terrorist organisations” must not be allowed to take advantage of the situation in Syria and called for caution.
HTS, which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria, was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate until its leader Golani severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016.
“The real question is how orderly will this transition be, and it seems quite clear that Golani is very eager for it to be an orderly one,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
“They are going to have to rebuild … they will need Europe and the U.S. to lift sanctions,” Landis added.
HTS is Syria’s strongest rebel group and some Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule or instigate reprisals.
Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, both close U.S. allies, see Islamist militant groups as an existential threat, so HTS may face resistance from the regional heavyweights.
In the Manama conference, Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to the United Arab Emirates president, said a main concern for that country is “extremism and terrorism.”
Israel, which is likely to celebrate the fall of its enemy Assad after it severely weakened its other main foes Hezbollah and Hamas in over a year of fighting, said it had deployed forces in the U.N.-monitored buffer zone with Syria and at a number of points necessary for defence.
Suspected Israeli strikes hit Mazzeh district of Damascus, one Lebanese and one Syrian security source said on Sunday.
Jets believed to be Israeli bombed the Khalkhala air base in southern Syria that was evacuated by the Syrian army overnight, two regional security sources told Reuters.
The Israeli government had no immediate comment on the reported strikes, which one of the sources said appeared to be aimed at preventing weapons falling into the hands of radical Islamist groups.