Opposition takes Damascus, al-Assad flees
Syria’s armed opposition forces say President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule has come to an end after they seized the capital, Damascus
Syrian opposition fighters have captured the capital, Damascus, and declared victory on state television.
Russia says Bashar al-Assad has left the country and given orders for a peaceful transition.
His whereabouts are unknown.
Opposition groups have declared a curfew in Damascus, where people are
Opposition leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani says all state institutions will remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they are handed over officially.
Crowds of Syrian refugees abroad are celebrating al-Assad’s fall and planning to return home for the first time in years.
Who is Abu Mohammed al-Julani, who led the ousting of Bashar al-Assad?
Abu Mohammed al-Julani stands at the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group that has become the most powerful armed opposition force in Syria and led the offensive that ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Julani was born Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in 1982 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as a petroleum engineer. The family returned to Syria in 1989, settling near Damascus.
He was allied with top leadership at ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda before resigning those ties to rebrand and present a more “moderate” image while renouncing a transnational mission for a national takeover roadmap.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani checks the damage following an earthquake in the village of Besnaya in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on February 7, 2023 [Omar Haj Kadour/AFP
Egypt calls on all parties in Syria to preserve capabilities of state
Egypt has called on all parties in Syria to preserve the capabilities of the state and national institutions, its Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry, in the first comments on the situation in Syria from an Arab government, said it was following the situation with great care, affirming its support for the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty and unity.
Al-Assad’s regime ‘permeated every single person’s fibre of being’
Arwa Damon, president and founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance (INARA), says Syrians “were hopeful and had their hope crushed” for 14 years.
“What we are seeing right now is completely different, and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the era of al-Assad is finished,” Damon, who is half Syrian and extensively covered the civil war in the country as a journalist in the past, told Al Jazeera in Doha.
She said the fear of al-Assad’s regime was extremely “palpable and real” when he was in power.
“Even when people left Syria and were ostensibly in a safe country, they were still afraid in many cases to actually publicly speak out about al-Assad regime,” she stressed.
“The fear of the regime, the fear of detention, the fear of what happened inside this darkened ominous prison system, the fear just disappearing was so real that it permeated every single person’s fibre of being,” Damon stressed.
People gather in Homs to celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad
