Celebration in Damascus as Assad regime falls after more than 54 years, December 8, 2024 (BBC)

EA on International Media: Syria After The Fall of Assad

What Now for Syria’s Kurds?

The Russia-Iran-Assad “Axis of the Vulnerable” Is Cracking in Syria

UPDATE 2023 GMT:

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, has addressed other countries as he promised Syria “will be rebuilt”:

Their fears are unnecessary, God willing. The fear was from the presence of the [Assad] regime.

The country is moving towards development and reconstruction. It’s going towards stability.

People are exhausted from war. So the country isn’t ready for another one and it’s not going to get into another one.

The source of our fears was from the Iranian militias, Hezbollah and the regime which committed the massacres we are seeing today. So their removal is the solution for Syria. The current situation won’t allow for a return to panic.

UPDATE 2019 GMT:

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has acknowledged that Bashar al-Assad is in the country.

He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation.

I have no idea what is going on with him right now. [It] would be very wrong for me to elaborate on what happened and how it was resolved.

Ryabkov said Russia would refuse to hand Assad over to the international Criminal Court if asked.

UPDATE 1747 GMT:

Mohammed al-Bashir, Syria’s interim Prime Minister (see 1532 GMT), has met members of the transitional government. He told Al Jazeera:

We invited members from the old government and some directors from the administration in Idlib and its surrounding areas in order to facilitate all the necessary works for the next two months until we have a constitutional system to be able to serve the Syrian people.

Today, we had other meetings to restart the institutions to be able to serve our people in Syria.

UPDATE 1617 GMT:

Russia is evacuating its forces from Syria amid the opposition’s victory over the Assad regime, says Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR.

The agency claimed Russian troops are expressing frustration with commanders over the disorganized withdrawal.

Military transport aircraft, including An-124 and Il-76 planes, have moved personnel and equipment to Russian airfields in Ulyanovsk, Chkalovsky, and Privolzhsky. The bulk carrier Sparta II and the amphibious assault ship Alexander Shabalin are en route to the Syrian port of Tartous to assist. Additional ships, including the frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko, are supporting the operation from the Mediterranean Sea.

HUR adds that emergency dismantling of military equipment is ongoing in Tartous, where hundreds of Russian special forces have been deployed.

(Cross-posted from Ukraine Live Coverage)

UPDATE 1606 GMT:

Two sources say Syria’s rebel command has ordered fighters to withdraw from cities.

Police and internal security forces affiliated with the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham reportedly deployed.

UPDATE 1558 GMT:

Saudi Arabia has joined the UN, Turkey, and Qatar (see 1239 GMT) in condemning Israel’s airstrikes and incursion into Syria.

The assaults carried out by the Israeli occupation government, including the seizure of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights, and the targeting of Syrian territory confirm Israel’s continued violation of the principles of international law and its determination to sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity.

UPDATE 1538 GMT:

Mohammed al-Bashir has reportedly been appointed as Syria’s interim Prime Minister.

Bashir said in a televised address that he will lead the transitional government until March 1.

Bashir was head of the Syrian Salvation Government, backed by the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, in the opposition area of northwest Syria.

UPDATE 1522 GMT:

Israel is continuing to strike the Assad regime’s “scientific research centers”, which carried out research and development of conventional and chemical weapons.

An AFP journalist witnessed the destruction of the Barzeh center in Damascus. Three blocks of buildings were destroyed, with hundreds of documents scattered on the ground.

A 25-year employee said, “The buildings destroyed were not military….The military centers were destroyed in the past, and the current research was civilian.”

He said another “scientific research center”, based in Jamraya near Damascus, was hit by strikes Monday night and “totally destroyed”.

“Israeli security forces” said there were arounds 300 strikes in Syria early Tuesday, most in southern Syria and around Damascus. The emphasis was on army bases with air defense systems and stores of surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.

During a visit to a naval base in Haifa, Defense minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces destroyed the Syrian fleet in an operation on Monday night.

Katz said he had ordered a “sterile defensive zone” to be created in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence.

UPDATE 1256 GMT:

Confirmation of the Assad regime’s killing of another long-term political prisoner:

UPDATE 1239 GMT:

The UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, says Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion into Syrian territory need to stop.

What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974, so we will obviously, with our colleagues in New York, follow this extremely closely in the hours and days ahead.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said:

We strongly condemn Israel’s violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement by entering the Israeli-Syria zone and its continuing advance in to Syrian territory.

In this sensitive period, when the possibility of achieving the peace and stability that the Syrian people have been longing for for many years, Israel is once again displaying its occupying mentality.

We resolutely reiterate our support for Syria’s sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it is “unacceptable” that Israel is seeking to take advantage of the situation in Syria by violating Syrian sovereignty.

UPDATE 1217 GMT:

A UN spokesperson in Geneva has said in a briefing:

We want to note that we have observed an increase in media freedom in many areas of Syria in recent days. We acknowledge this development, and we urge all parties to respect media freedom and workers and journalists, emphasising that they are civilians who must be protected.

UPDATE 1014 GMT:

Amwaj Media reports on Bashar al-Assad’s return from Moscow on November 30, to discover that rebels had liberated Aleppo city.

Assad blasted commanders as corrupt and untrustworthy, and his army as an unreliable collection of “thieves”.

A “senior regional source” said Vladimir Putin promised assistance, but only for a safe exit for Assad and his wife Asma.

“Informed sources in Tehran” criticized Turkey for telling Iran and Russia that movement among rebels in Idlib Province in northwest Syria in recent months raised no concerns.

As the rebels advanced last week, the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force reached an agreement with the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham to leave Shia Muslims and shrines and the Iranian Embassy in Damascus untouched.

The Embassy was vandalized, with windows broken and rooms ransacked, but Iran State media said the assailants were “not affiliated with the group in charge” of Syria.

UPDATE 0813 GMT:

The leader of the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Ahmed al-Sharaa, says he will pursue “war criminals” and hold them accountable.

Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said he will publish a list of former senior officials “involved in torturing the Syrian people”: “We will offer rewards to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes.”

UPDATE 0756 GMT:

Israel’s ground incursion is reportedly around 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Damascus.

The reports said Israeli tanks reached Qatana, about 10 km (6.2 miles) into Syrian territory, east of the demilitarized zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.

Israel’s officials said on Monday that they will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry and keep a “limited” troop presence in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, claimed in a letter that Israel’s actions are “limited and temporary measures” and it “is not intervening in the ongoing conflict between Syrian armed groups”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — amid his open-ended war on Gaza and, until recently, Lebanon — said the Golan Heights, occupied since 1967, will remain part of Israel “for eternity”. He proclaimed control “ensures our security and sovereignty”.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres, “There should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation. And Israel and Syria must continue to uphold the terms of that 1974 agreement, and preserve stability in the Golan.”

UPDATE, DEC 10:

White Helmets civil defense ended their search and rescue operations at the notorious Sednaya Prison near Damascus on Monday night.

The rescuers said they had not found any “evidence of undiscovered secret cells or basements” in a thorough search of the prison, where tens of thousands of detainees perished from torture, execution, or poor conditions.

The White Helmets “shared the profound disappointment of the families of the thousands who remain missing and whose fates remain unknown”, urging all on social media to be mindful of widespread misinformation and rumors.

Rebel fighters said they had found about 40 bodies bearing signs of torture inside a hospital morgue near Damascus on Monday. The victims were stuffed into body bags with numbers and sometimes names written on them.

UPDATE 1845 GMT:

Local leaders in Bashar al-Assad’s hometown of Qardaha in western Syria have agreed to give up all their weapons and to accept the authority of a transitional government.

The agreement was reached after around 36 hours of dialogue in Latakia Province.

UPDATE 1815 GMT:

Syria’s rebel command has said it will not tell women how to dress:

It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty.

The command also announced “a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service”.

It pledged, “Their safety is guaranteed, and any harm or assault against them is strictly prohibited.”

UPDATE 1754 GMT:

Israel’s officials say they will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry and keep a “limited” troop presence in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would “destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles”.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens.

“That’s why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists,” he told reporters in Jerusalem.

On Sunday, Israel conducted three airstrikes on a security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus, a research center where Assad regime and Iranian scientists reportedly developed missiles, the Customs Administration, and the Mezzeh airbase (see below).

Israeli ground forces entered the demilitarised zone, a 400 square-km (155 square-mile) area created by a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and overseen by a UN force.

UPDATE 1747 GMT:

Russian troops have reportedly requested Turkey’s support for their safe exit from Syria.

CNN Turk said Russia will withdraw ground troops, but no request for departure has come from the Tartous naval facility or Hmeimim airbase.

The Russian soldiers will reportedly be sent to Turkey-controlled parts of Syria and then evacuated to Russia by air.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made no commitment over the future of the bases, saying saying it is “a subject for discussion with those who will lead Syria” (see 1229 GMT).

But he said, “We’re doing everything possible and necessary to get in touch with those who can provide security. And our military are also taking precautionary measures.”

UPDATE 1506 GMT:

The Sednaya Detainees Association says reports of hundreds of detainees trapped in underground cells at Sednaya Prison (see Opening Update, Dec 9) are incorrect.

The Association says the last detainee was freed from Sednaya, outside Damascus, at 11 a.m. on Sunday: “There is no truth to the presence of detainees trapped underground, and the information contained in some press reports is inaccurate.”

UPDATE 1243 GMT:

The scene at Ummayad Square in Damascus today:

UPDATE 1229 GMT:

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed Vladimir Putin’s approval of Bashar al-Assad’s stay in Russia.

Peskov said it was “premature” to talk about the future of Russian air and naval bases in western Syria, saying it is “a subject for discussion with those who will lead” the country.

UPDATE 1201 GMT:

An Iranian official says Tehran has opened a direct line of communication with Syria’s new leadership to “prevent a hostile trajectory”.

“This engagement is key to stabilize ties and avoiding further regional tensions,” the official said.

UPDATE 1154 GMT:

The flag of “Free Syria” flies over the Syrian Embassy in Moscow:

The flag of "Free Syria" flies over the Syrian Embassy in Moscow

Photo: Yulia Morozova/Reuters

UPDATE 1148 GMT:

A moment of honesty:

UPDATE 0813 GMT:

A snapshot outside Damascus on Sunday night:

Video shows thousands of cars jamming roads to Damascus as displaced people return to the capital after hearing the Assad regime had been overthrown by the opposition.

[image or embed]

— aljazeera.com (@aljazeera.com) December 9, 2024 at 8:08 AM

UPDATE, DEC 9:

Rescuers are racing to free hundreds of threatened detainees from the Assad regime’s notorious Sednaya Prison outside Damascus.

The detainees are trapped in underground cells. Reports are circulating that doors cannot be opened because of codes held by regime personnel.

The White Helmets civil defense has deployed five specialised emergency teams, with search and rescue units, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dog units, and medical responders.

Raed al-Saleh, head of the White Helmets, posted this morning:

We are working with all our energy to reach a new hope, and we must be prepared for the worst.

However, we are continuing to work and search everywhere within the prison, and we are accompanied by two guides who know all the details.

Will Christou of The Guardian reports from the prison:

Tens of thousands of detainees have been freed from regime prisons across Syria.

Bashar Barhoum, 63, a writer who was due to be executed on Sunday, said as he walked through the streets of Damascus: “Instead of being dead tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a new lease of life.”

UPDATE 2034 GMT:

Assad regime Gen. Ali Mahmoud has been found shot dead in his office in Damascus Province.

It is unclear if Mahmoud was killed or committed suicide.

Mahmoud was Deputy for Operations in the 4th Armored Division, led by Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher.

UPDATE 2030 GMT:

The latest on the effort to free detainees from Sednaya Prison near Damascus:

UPDATE 2015 GMT:

The US Central Command says it has carried out dozens of airstrikes against the Islamic State.

“Battle damage assessments are underway, and there are no indications of civilian casualties,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla added:

There should be no doubt – we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria.

All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way.

UPDATE 1808 GMT:

A “Kremlin source” has told the Russian outlet Interfax that Bashar al-Assad is in Russia.

“President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds,” the official said.

UPDATE 1804 GMT:

Rebels from Tartous in western Syria, a former stronghold for the Assad regime and Russia:

UPDATE 1748 GMT:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has commented:

After 14 years of brutal war and the fall of the dictatorial regime, today the people of Syria can seize an historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future.

I reiterate my call for calm and avoiding violence at this sensitive time, while protecting the rights of all Syrians, without distinction.

UPDATE 1720 GMT:

Hind Khattab, a leading civil society activist, tells the Guardian:

Today and tonight we celebrate, but tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and start to form our new inclusive Syria because we have so much work to do. Tomorrow is the first day of our lives living in freedom but it is so important we keep the civic space in the weeks ahead.

Syrian civil society on the ground was in a completely different place from 20 years ago – much stronger, vibrant and creative. At root there are three messages – no punishment, no revenge and no sectarianism.

The President of Tastakel, a non-profit group committed to interfaith dialogue, Khattab explains:

We learnt from Iraq where they destroyed all the institutions. We need those Syrian institutions. We cannot punish the small soldiers that have no blood on their hands. We are not going to have people taken into the square. Those involved in crimes will have a fair trial.

She offers an example from the rebel offensive:

When the Christian people in Aleppo woke up to discover there was no regime they feared what was coming next. The Christians had been told for so long by President Assad that he was their protector. I too was fearful. There have been so many disappointments, and people said to me, “We have seen this movie before.”

But civil society went to the Christians on the day of Santa Barbara festival (December 4) and reassured them and distributed bread, so Aleppo was fine. We had been so scared about sectarianism, but it went so smoothly. We had videos and phone calls to our organization saying all is fine.

And then the revolutionaries went to the Christian church in Hama and Homs saying we are not going to enter. They went to Marmorita, and said, “We want you to be safe. All we are asking is you take the revolutionary green flag and we take a video and we will leave you alone.” So now the Christian community is safe.

UPDATE 1707 GMT:

Israel has conducted three airstrikes on a security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus and a research centre where Iranian scientists reportedly developed missiles, say “two regional security sources”.

Strikes on the Customs Administration:

And of Mezzeh Airbase:

UPDATE 1704 GMT:

Statues of Bashar al-Assad being toppled across Syria:

UPDATE 1454 GMT:

A “Turkish security source” says Turkish-backed rebels have entered the city of Manbij in Aleppo Province after taking control of most of the surrounding area from US-backed, Kurdish-led forces.

The official proclaimed, “The fight against the YPG/PKK is very close to victory. Both air and land interventions are ongoing to take Manbij from the hands of the YPG/PKK.

Manbij is around 30 km (19 miles) south of the Turkish border and west of the Euphrates river.

UPDATE 1447 GMT:

In a statement read on State TV, the leader of the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said there is no room for turning back in the Syrian Revolution.

Determined to continue the path started in 2011 with the uprising, al-Jolani declared, “The future is ours.”

Al-Jolani visited the Umayyad Mosque, with crowds shouting “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)”.

Earlier, a news anchor proclaimed, “To those who thought one day that we were broken, we announce to you from the Syrian News Channel the victory of the great Syrian Revolution after 13 years of patience and sacrifice.”

A curfew in Damascus from 4 p.m. until 5 a.m. was announced.

UPDATE 1439 GMT:

Rebels entered the residence of the Italian Ambassador in Damascus, but did not harm him or his security staff, Italian Foreign minister Antonio Tajani has said.

Tajani said the Islamist fighters were looking for pro-Assad troops or relevant documents, and left after firing a few shots against a wall. They took away three cars.

The Foreign Minister said:

We are calling for a peaceful handover between the fallen regime and the new reality, so for a peaceful rather than military transition. It seems to me that at the moment things are going in this direction.

Rebels inside Bashar al-Assad’s Presidential Palace:

UPDATE 1157 GMT:

Syria’s Foreign Ministry has
renounced the Assad regime in a statement.

Syrian brothers: today, a new page is being written in the history of Syria, to inaugurate a national covenant and charter that unites the word of the Syrians, unites them and does not divide them, in order to build one homeland in which justice and equality prevail and in which everyone enjoys all rights and duties, far from one opinion. And citizenship is the basis.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic and its diplomatic missions abroad will remain committed to serving all fellow citizens and managing their affairs, based on the trust they bear in representing the Syrian people, and that the homeland remains supreme.

UPDATE 1117 GMT:

The US Department of Defense has said it will maintain a presence in eastern Syria, continuing its partnership with Kurdish groups, to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State.

Daniel Shapiro, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Middle East, Daniel Shapiro, called for civilians, particularly minorities, to be protected and for international law to be observed by all parties.

US support since 2015 has helped prevented the Kurdish-ruled area from being overrun by the Islamic State, the Assad regime, or Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan considers the Syrian Kurdish authority to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

Donald Trump implicitly threatened the withdrawal of American support on Saturday, posting that the US should have “nothing to do” with Syria.

In December 2018, at the prompting of Erdoğan, Trump tried to withdraw all US forces from Syria. The Pentagon and other US agencies were able to maintain a presence of around 1,000 troops.

However, in October 2019, during another phone call with Erdoğan, Trump effectively assented to a Turkish invasion which seized a corridor along the border with northern Syria.

UPDATE 1018 GMT:

Rebels have issued the following directions to residents.

It is strictly forbidden to fire bullets into the air under any circumstances, as it causes panic among civilians and endangers the lives of the innocent.

It is forbidden to tamper with public institutions and property, as they are the rightful property of the people. It is our duty to protect and preserve them and help develop them.

It is forbidden to encroach upon or harm any private property in any form.

UPDATE 0928 GMT:

The Embassy of Iran, an essential supporter of the Assad regime, has been vandalized in Damascus.

Video shows damage to the building’s exterior, including broken windows. Rooms are in disarray with papers scattered across the floor.

A crowd tore a large image on the building of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force leader assassinated by the US in January 2020, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel in September.

UPDATE 0920 GMT:

In Damascus, the reaction of Omar Daher, 29, whose father was killed by security forces and whose brother disappeared in detention:

My feelings are indescribable. After the fear that [Assad] and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.

[Bashar al-Assad is] a criminal, a tyrant and a dog.

“Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God, we saw it.”

UPDATE 0804 GMT:

One of the detainees freed from the infamous Sednaya Prison near Damascus on Saturday:

UPDATE 0857 GMT:

The commander of the US-supported, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Gen. Mazloum Abdi has said, “In Syria, we are living through historic moments as we witness the fall of the authoritarian regime in Damascus.”

Abdi asserted, “This change presents an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that guarantees the rights of all Syrians.”

Celebrations in Raqqa in northeast Syria, part of the autonomous Kurdish territory:

UPDATE 0757 GMT:

The editor of the conservative Iranian outlet Jahan News posts a photo of a religious ceremony attended by the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qa’ani, and the criticism, “We were ready to help, but Syria didn’t ask us!”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Bashar al-Assad —- having overseen the detention, torture, and killing of hundreds of thousands and displacement of more than 11 million Syrians —- has fallen from power, less than 11 days after the start of a decisive rebel offensive.

Two regime military officers confirmed that Assad fled the country as the rebels entered Damascus on Saturday. Unconfirmed claims said he flew out of Damascus International Airport, ahead of army personnel.

Earlier in the day, rebels took a series of Damascus suburbs, including those where regime troops had carried out mass killings and chemical attacks slaying thousands of civilians. In other areas, residents tore down posters and toppled statues of Assad and his father and predecessor in the family’s 54-year rule, Hafez. Detainees were freed from Sednaya Prison, where tens of thousands perished from torture, execution, or poor conditions since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011.

The offensive also completed the liberation of Homs, with almost 800,000 people, in central Syria. There was a brief and rare display of regime resistance, with fierce fighting in the city center, before Assad’s forces withdrew —- purportedly for the defense of Damascus.

From a State TV studio in the capital, rebels read a statement from the Damascus Conquest Operations Room announcing “the liberation of the city of Damascus, the fall of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad, and the release of all the unjustly detained from the regime prisons”. They called on fighters and citizens to safeguard the “property of the free Syrian state”.

The rebels pledged a “new Syria”:

We turn the page on the dark past, and open a new horizon for the future….

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.

Regime Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said he and his Cabinet were ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition, working with a transitional government and calling for free elections, in a video statement.

”I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili explained. He did say where Assad had gone.

One regime officer said personnel were notified that Assad’s rule had ended. But the regime army officially declared the continuation of operations in Homs, Hama in northwest Syria, and Daraa Province in the south.