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President Assad Whereabouts Is Unknown As Syrian Rebels Takeover Damascus

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2 weeks ago

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After just a few days of rapid advances, the rebels stand on the edge of seizing Syria’s capital. They said they would work with a top official in President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Mr. al-Assad’s location was unclear.
Here are the latest developments.
Rebel fighters stormed into Syria’s capital, Damascus, on Sunday, taking them to the brink of a stunning victory as Syrian forces and their leader, President Bashar al-Assad, as evidence mounted that he had fled.
In just two weeks, a bitter stalemate that had held for years in Syria has been snapped. While the rebels said Mr. al-Assad had left, their claim could not be independently verified and his whereabouts were not known.
The main rebel coalition announced on its Telegram on Sunday that it had taken Damascus and that Syrian forces were withdrawing. The prime minister of Syria, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, said that he would remain in the country and was ready to work with whoever Syrians chose to lead it. His remarks could not immediately be verified.
The main rebel group said it would work with Mr. Ghazi and called on military forces in Damascus to stay away from public institutions, which it said would remain under Mr. Ghazi’s supervision until they are formally handed over.
After Mr. al-Assad had kept rebel forces at bay for more than a decade with Iranian and Russian military support, a coalition of rebel groups who had been pinned into a small corner of the country’s northwest have swept through the country and its major cities. First the rebels seized Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, then days later blazed through Hama and the strategic city of Homs, en route to the capital.
Amid widespread reports of Syrian government troops fleeing their posts and peeling off uniforms, the sounds of gunfire erupted in Damascus before dawn on Sunday, witnesses said.
The main rebel coalition announced on its Telegram channel on Sunday that Mr. al-Assad had fallen, and that Damascus was “free of the tyrant.” The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Who are the rebels: The leader of the Islamist group leading the main rebel coalition said in an interview with The New York Times this week that the fighters aim to depose Mr. al-Assad. His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, broke ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 but is still designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Damascus reacts:  Three civilians in the capital told the Times that they heard gunfire in the city overnight. It was not immediately clear at the time who was firing. One resident said the gunfire appeared to be celebrating the rebels’ advance, and that some people were dancing in the streets.
Prisoners freed: As the rebels advance, they are taking over many of the notorious prisons where the Assad regime has for decades imprisoned, tortured and executed political prisoners. Videos emerging from north of Damascus show groups of men walking through city streets at night, reportedly after being freed from Sednaya Prison, which the rebels haven taken, according to war monitors and the fighters.
Ahmed al-Misilmani, a journalist in northwest Syria, said he ran onto his balcony yelling for joy when he saw reports that President Bashar al-Assad was fleeing the country. His yelling woke his wife and his children.
When rebels captured the Sednaya prison complex, he said he thought of friends who had been imprisoned there. “We hope to God they are still alive,” said Mr. al-Misilmani, who was displaced from his home near the city of Homs six years ago.
A livestream video on Instagram from central Damascus shows a joyous scene as rebel forces enter the city. People outside the Dar al-Assad Center for Culture and Arts stomped burning images of President Bashar al-Assad and attempted to topple a statue of his father, Syria’s former president Hafez al-Assad. They were unsuccessful in taking down the statue, but left a trash can on its head.
Footage shows an abandoned checkpoint in Damascus. Clothes are strewn on the floor as large photos of President Bashar al-Assad hang on the walls.
Anas Khoury, an opposition activist who fled his Damascus suburb for Idlib Province after a 2013 chemical attack, said he is scanning lists of prisoners who have been freed from the Sednaya prison complex near Damascus. He is looking for his brother, who has been detained there since 2011.
Mr. Khoury, 24, said he was struggling to process his emotions. “I have two children who don’t know their grandparents,” he said. “They were born in displacement. They were born among the tents.”
Even as many Syrians celebrate the rebels’ advance, this moment reminds them of all they have lost over 13 years of civil war. The loved ones who were killed, tortured or disappeared into the regime’s labyrinthine prison system. The homes they lost to airstrikes and shelling. The lives they had to abandon.
Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali of Syria said in a recording he would remain in the country and that he was ready to cooperate with whoever Syrians choose to lead the country. The recording could not be immediately verified
President Biden is “closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said on social media as midnight neared in Washington.
Syrians across the country are expressing disbelief as the rebels’ advance intensifies. “Thank God, thank God,” Eman Ouad, 44, whose husband was killed in the civil war, said repeatedly in an interview over WhatsApp. Her voice was close to breaking.
“Our freedom has returned,” said Ms. Ouad, who was displaced from her home in Damascus and now lives in Syria’s northwest. “Thirteen years of subjugation. Thirteen years of displacement.”
The rebels also said on their Telegram channel that hundreds of regime forces have given themselves up to rebel forces in Deir al-Zour.
It’s nearly dawn in Damascus. Three civilians there told The New York Times that they heard gunfire in the city overnight. It was not immediately clear at the time who was firing. One resident said the gunfire appeared to be celebrating the rebels’ advance, and that some people were dancing in the streets.
Another resident, the owner of an antiques shop who gave his first name as Mohamed, said it was hard to tell what was happening overnight because there was a power blackout and the city was completely dark.
A commander for the main rebel group in Syria said on the group’s Telegram channel that they called on military forces in Damascus to stay away from public institutions, which would remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over.
Videos posted to social media and on WhatsApp showed residents streaming into Ummayad Square in Damascus to celebrate the arrival of the rebels. Men gathered around a tank and climbed on top of it, raising their hands in the air as a group of onlookers clapped and played music. Cars drove around as the sound of celebratory gunfire filled the square.
The Syrian military’s forces have withdrawn from the airport in Damascus, the latest sign of retreat, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Videos emerging from north of Damascus show groups of men walking through city streets at night, reportedly after being freed from the Sednaya Prison, which was captured by rebel groups. These videos were filmed in the Syrian town of Mneen, about three miles south of the military prison that imprisoned thousands. In one video, locals welcome the prisoners, and they are offered rides into Damascus.
Iran’s state television is broadcasting footage of what it says are rebels entering Damascus. It is also showing scenes from the rebels taking over state television and Damascus international airport, as well as the military abandoning its positions. Iran’s government reporting that Assad’s regime had all but fallen was unimaginable just 10 days ago.
In a statement to the millions of Syrians who fled the country during the 13-year civil war, the official Telegram channel for the rebel offensive called them to return. “To the displaced all over the world, a free Syria awaits you,” they wrote in a statement.
The main rebel group in Syria said on its Telegram account that President Bashar al-Assad has fallen, and that Damascus is “free from the tyrant.” The report could not immediately be confirmed.
As the rebels advance, they are taking over many of the notorious prisons where the Assad regime has for decades imprisoned, tortured and executed political prisoners. In addition to capturing the notorious Sednaya prison complex early Sunday, rebels have taken the Adra Prison on the outskirts of Damascus and freed prisoners there, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The rebels also say they have taken a prison in Aleppo, and their videos show rebel forces prying open cell doors to free prisoners there. Those videos could not be independently verified
A photo circulating on social media shows a screen at the Damascus International Airport with nine canceled flights. The only flight on the board that took off was to Moscow, the photo shows. The photo could not be independently verified and calls to the airport rang unanswered. The tracking site Flightradar24 does not show any air traffic in the Damascus area.
On social media, Damascus residents are reporting gunfire in the streets, but they say it’s not clear who is firing. The rebel command leading this offensive has ordered rebel fighters not to fire in the air so as not to frighten civilians.
Two Iranian members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Iranian force that has been central in supporting Syria’s government, confirmed that rebels had entered the capital and that Syrian forces were withdrawing. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military intelligence matters.
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