Syrian rebels officially toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government on Sunday after capturing the capital, Damascus, in a swift and decisive offensive. Hassan Abdul-Ghani, a senior commander of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), proclaimed the victory through a WhatsApp message. “We declare Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” he said. “To all displaced people worldwide, Free Syria awaits you.”
After 60 hours, of which I slept like 6, I’m going to bed. These past days were absolutely incredible. The Free Syria flag now flies over every city of the country as Syrians have reclaimed their homeland. Mabrouk, mabrouk, mabrouk.
Syria is just the beginning. pic.twitter.com/ei7twqMsf3
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) December 8, 2024
One of the rebels’ first actions after seizing control was to storm Syria’s notorious prisons, including Sednaya, long infamous for torture and mass executions. Thousands of prisoners were freed, including women, children, and individuals held for years without trial.
Footage from Sednaya showed rebels breaking open cell doors and disoriented prisoners stepping into the sunlight for the first time in years. Rebels declared it “the end of the era of oppression in Sednaya.”
Syrians are still being broken out of #Assad’s infamous #Saydnaya prison — as each layer underground is being accessed with time.
Extraordinary scenes. pic.twitter.com/6g35z9nUGO
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) December 8, 2024
WATCH
Efforts are underway at Saydnayah Prison to access the heavily fortified underground levels of the Red Building. Slowly, cell by cell and meter by meter, the chambers are being unlocked. Horrors await pic.twitter.com/faFlM3mqBN
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 8, 2024
The iron execution press in Sednaya Prison.
After hanging, the body of prisoner is placed in the press and flattened like a sheet of paper. pic.twitter.com/REZPNV576z
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 8, 2024
According to reports, Assad fled the country as rebel forces advanced through regime strongholds. Russian news agencies confirmed that Assad arrived in Moscow on Sunday, where he has been granted asylum “out of humanitarian considerations.”
The fall of Assad’s regime marks the end of over 50 years of rule by the Assad family. Bashar al-Assad, who took power in 2000 after his father Hafez’s death, oversaw brutal crackdowns on dissent and a 14-year civil war that devastated the country.
President Joe Biden celebrated the collapse of Assad’s “brutal, authoritarian rule” in Syria, while also criticizing Iran and other adversarial forces. He described the fall of the Assad regime as a “historic opportunity.”
“At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden declared in a national address just hours after rebels took control of the capital. “This is a moment of great risk and uncertainty, but I firmly believe it represents the best opportunity in generations for the Syrian people to shape their own future, free from oppression,” the president continued.
