Russia says President Assad has left Syria as rebels take control of Damascus

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the country after giving orders for a peaceful handover of power.

Rebel forces captured the capital Damascus in a rapid offensive on Sunday, bringing an end to five decades of the Assad family’s iron rule.

Commander of Syrian rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Golani said in a statement read on state television on Sunday, “The future is ours… There is no room for turning back, we are determined to continue the path we started in 2011.”

The Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Interim Government said in a post on December 7 that the rebel forces had started an attack on Manbij.

Several fighters and a section of residents took to the streets in Damascus cheering after the rebels took over the capital. Rebel factions, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, declared Damascus “liberated” and said, “We announce the freedom of our city and the fall of the tyrant Assad”. Earlier reports suggested that Assad’s plane had likely crashed or been shot down during an apparent escape from Damascus.

Syrian state television showed a video showing a rebel group announcing that Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown, shortly after a war monitor reported that he had fled on a plane to an unknown destination.