December 9, 2024 – Syrian rebel yesterday entered Damascus without facing any obstructions and with no signs of army deployments, thus overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad and bringing to an end more than five decades of his family’s iron-fisted reign. This also put an end to a 13-year-old civil which began with Assad's crackdown on democracy protests. A war which killed thousands and left the economy in shatters.

On November 27, the Islamist commander Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had led the rebel group in its onslaught taking control of Hamas, Aleppo (the second-largest city) and Homs, the country's third largest city.

Earlier in the day, Assad left Damascu, fleeing after rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus. But it was not clear where he was headed to. But later, last night, it was reported by Russian news that Assad and his family had taken asylum in Russia.

An unnamed source said: “President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds.” Kremlin said it had been President Vladimir Putin’s personal decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia.

After the rebels took over Damascus, thousands in cars and on foot gathered at the city’s main square waving and chanting “Freedom” slogans.

For Syrians, it has brought a sudden unanticipated end to a war that had been in deep freeze for years, with more than 500,000 people already dead, cities pounded to dust an economy hollowed out by global sanctions and more than half of the population been forced to evacuate their homes. A UN reports said around 3.7 lakh people had been displaced because of the civil war.

 “How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?” the top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani told a huge gathering at the medieval Ummayad Mosque in central Damascus.

Efforts were on to free prisoners. After rebels blasted off the locks on their cells, confused and ecstatic prisoners flooded out of jails. Families were reunited and cried with delight.

Assad's regime, which for centuries had been regarded as leading one of the most brutal police states in the Middle East, vanished in an instant.

Meanwhile, Israel Foreign Minister said today that Israel has struck “suspected chemical weapons sites” and “long-range rockets” in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors. Israel has claimed that ground troop operations on Syrian territory were a “limited, temporary” step.

Gideon Saar said “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens … that’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”

With Media Inputs