Syrian President Assad Flees Damascus As Rebel Forces Seize Capital, Marks Collapse Of Regime Stronghold

Rebel forces entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Sunday after a week-long rapid offensive, with no sign of government forces remaining in the city, according to insurgent sources cited by Reuters.

With his grip on power faltering, President Bashar al-Assad has fled the capital, boarding a plane to an undisclosed location, senior Syrian army officers told Reuters.

Photo Credit: PTI/AP

The Syrian military and security forces have retreated from Damascus International Airport, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The war monitor, which relies on sources within Syria, reported that officers and soldiers abandoned the airport in the face of the rebel advance.

Panic has swept through the capital, with residents reporting gunfire and regime loyalists scrambling to flee, fearing the imminent collapse of Assad's government, the Observatory and AFP reported.

The rebels also declared they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison, located north of Damascus, and liberated the prisoners held there.

"We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Saydnaya prison," they announced, as quoted by Reuters.

The Rebel Offensive

Armed opposition groups, aiming to overthrow Assad, launched their offensive on 27 November by swiftly capturing Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city.

Key northern cities, including Daraa and Hama, fell to opposition forces within days, encountering minimal resistance from government troops.

These advances represent the largest gains by rebel factions in years. The offensive has been led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group with origins in Al-Qaeda, designated a terrorist organisation by both the United States and the United Nations.

On Saturday, the rebels announced they were encircling Damascus, where Assad has ruled since 2000. Later that evening, they captured Homs, a strategic city at the crossroads between Damascus and the Syrian president's coastal stronghold on the Mediterranean.

The rapid gains, coupled with the absence of support from Assad's former allies, pose the gravest threat to his rule since the conflict began.

Should Damascus fall to the opposition, the government would retain control of only two out of Syria's 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.

The Assad Regime

Syria has been ruled by the Assad family for over five decades, with Bashar al-Assad assuming power in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad.

According to the United Nations, Assad's regime is responsible for over 350,000 deaths of opponents, widespread detention and torture, and the deployment of banned nerve agents against opposition-held areas in efforts to suppress dissent.

The country descended into chaos in 2011, sparked by anti-Assad protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East. Assad's violent crackdown escalated the unrest into a full-scale civil war.

By 2015, opposition groups and Islamic State militants had seized large portions of Syria. However, a Russian military intervention, characterised by an intense aerial bombing campaign, reversed many of these losses, shoring up Assad's regime.

Efforts led by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, partially supported by Russia, eventually confined the Islamic State to small desert enclaves.

Since 2016, the conflict's front lines have largely remained static, with Assad's forces maintaining control over the country's major cities.