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Assad’s brutal half-century rule over Syria ended in a stunning defeat by opposition rebels who seized control of Damascus on Sunday after more than 13 years of civil war.
In extraordinary scenes, enthusiastic crowds took to the streets waving the revolutionary flag and chanting “Freedom”, as the capital was littered with discarded government force uniforms.
Families of relatives left to rot for years in the regime’s notorious prisons have been anxiously awaiting news of loved ones as videos show fighters freeing thousands from prisons across the country.
Others gleefully ransacked the presidential palace and residence, rummaging through luxury designer items belonging to the longtime dictator, after President Bashar al-Assad, along with his wife Asma and their two children, as well as top officials, disappeared.
Russia, a close ally that has supported the regime for years and will see this as a major blow, said Assad had left the country after negotiations with rebel groups and had given instructions for a peaceful transfer of power. Late Sunday, Russian state media reported that Assad and his family had been granted asylum and were in Moscow.
World leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, have welcomed the end of the Assad regime, albeit amid concerns about what comes next for the war-torn region.
Assad’s sudden ouster at the hands of a Turkish-backed insurgency with roots in jihadist Sunni Islam limits Iran’s ability to arm its allies and could cost Russia its Mediterranean naval base. It also paves the way for millions of refugees scattered for more than a decade in camps across Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to finally return home.
For Syrians, it brought a sudden, unexpected end to a war that had been in deep freeze for years, with hundreds of thousands dead, cities razed to the ground, an economy destroyed by global sanctions and no solution in sight.
Families huddled in their homes, fearing more bloody battles ahead, came out on Sunday to celebrate.
“It was one of the smoothest transitions ever,” said Mariam The Independent from a town on the outskirts of the capital. “We thought blood would soak the streets, but no one wanted to fight for Assad anymore. Finally, Syrians can be proud to be Syrian.”
“I can’t stop crying,” added Ahmed, who owns a clothing store also in a town near the capital. “I can’t believe he’s defeated.”
A fighter from the ranks of the opposition, who during the past week fought in battles against regime forces in Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Homs, said The Independent the battle against Assad was one “for all”. He said he hoped the myriad factions in the country could now come together.
“We are fighting for a Syria for everyone: Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze – we are fighting for a Syria that is for everyone,” he added.
Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the largest and the best organized of the rebel groupssaid Syria is now free from “tyrants” Assad.
Rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of an army deployment. Thousands in cars and on foot gathered in Damascus’ main square waving and chanting after half a century of rule by the Assad family.
The command of the Syrian army informed the officers about it Assad’s rule is overbut later added that it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the key cities of Hama and Homs and in the countryside of Deraa.
Assad, who has not spoken in public since a sudden rebel advance a week ago, has fled Damascus, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
His government – known for generations as the head of one of the harshest police states in the entire Middle East with hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in gulags – melted away overnight.
Leading rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani said there was no turning back and said the group was determined to continue on the path they began in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings.
Rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said “Amid the victory” we should not forget those who died fighting “and paved the way for us towards the capital”.
The rebels have also dealt a major blow to the influence of Russia and Iran in the heart of the region – key allies who have supported Assad at critical periods in the conflict.
Since rebels stormed Aleppo a week ago, government defenses have crumbled across the country as insurgents seized a number of major cities and rose in places where the rebellion had long seemed over.
After years locked behind frozen front lines, the rebels broke out of their northwestern stronghold in Idlib and pushed the fastest advance on the battlefield on either side since a street uprising against President Assad more than a decade ago.
The collapse follows a seismic shift in the balance of power in the Middle East after the leadership of the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a mainstay of Assad’s forces on the battlefield, was killed in the past two months. Russia, Assad’s other key ally, is embroiled in a devastating war in Ukraine.
Emma Beals, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute and a leading expert on Syria, said that geopolitics played a major role in bringing down the regime, “at the end of the day, this is a phenomenal set of events brought about by the Syrians themselves”.
“It was a perfect storm, where everything came together,” she said. “But at the end of the day, people are tired, they want something new.
“In the regime areas, there was an economic collapse, a large loss of life in the army and other social shocks. Even after the fighting ended, people saw no benefits. Instead, they saw friends of the regime getting contracts and getting richer as they got poorer.”
But she warned that “the hard work starts tomorrow” and that trying to bring together so many warring factions in such a broken country will be a huge challenge.
“The huge turnaround in force and the speed with which it happened will make the security situation difficult for the coming weeks, and service delivery along with it,” she explained. “There is also a discussion about who is in the transitional government, [and] what are the next steps.”
When the celebrations fade, Syria’s new leaders will face the daunting task of trying to bring stability to a diverse country with competing factions that will need billions of dollars in aid and investment to rebuild.
The Syrian rebel coalition, for its part, said it was continuing to work to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with full executive powers.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the phase of the struggle to topple the Assad regime to the struggle for the joint construction of Syria worthy of the sacrifices of its people,” the rebels said in a statement.
But conflicts with other factions have already broken out. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which control the country’s northeast and are backed by the United States, said they were already engaged in battles with Turkish-backed opposition forces around the northwestern city of Manbij.
The pace of events stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
It marks a turning point for Syria, torn apart by years of war that has reduced cities to rubble, killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven millions abroad as refugees.
The United States will continue to maintain a presence in eastern Syria and will take the measures necessary to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro.
HTS, which has led the rebel advance across western Syria, was formerly an offshoot of al-Qaeda, known as the Nusra Front, until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani cut ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016.
Golani’s outfit is the most powerful rebel group in the country and some Syrians still fear it will impose draconian Islamist rule or incite retaliation.
Even after Assad fled, Israel continued to attack targets linked to his government and its Iran-backed allies, including one in Damascus where Israel has previously accused Iran of developing missiles. Benjamin Netanyahu said Assad’s ouster could make it easier for Israel to reach a cease-fire agreement to free Gaza hostages.
The UK said it welcomed the fall of Assad’s “barbaric regime”.
“The Syrian people have suffered too long under Assad’s barbaric regime and we welcome his departure,” Sir Keir said in a statement on Sunday. “Our focus is now on ensuring that a political solution prevails, and that peace and stability are restored.
“We call on all parties to protect civilians and minorities and ensure that basic aid reaches the most vulnerable in the coming hours and days.”