Rebels Take Damascus, President Al Assad Leaves The Country
Armed rebels and people celebrate inside the Umayyad Mosque in central Damascus, Syria, 08 December 2024. Syrian rebels entered Damascus on 08 December 2024 and announced in a televised statement the ‘Liberation of the city of Damascus and the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad,’ as well as the release of all the prisoners. The rebels also urged the Syrian armed forces to leave Syrian public institutions, which will stay under the control of the outgoing Syrian prime minister until the official handover ceremony. Photo: EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI
December 8, 2024 Hour: 1:10 pm
Insurgents led by the Levant Liberation Agency (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS, in Arabic), took Damascus with little resistance after just 12 days of offensive, while President Bashar Al Asad left the country and his current whereabouts are unknown.
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Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, the Islamist leader whose origins as a militant are in the Al Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, proclaimed his victory in a statement calling on his followers to “calm down” and “avoid abuses in areas under their control.”
“Enter Damascus with modesty, treat your people and your people well. You must be the best soldiers, as described by the envoy of God”, he said in his message, adding that they must “protect public institutions and their property, since they are the property of the people”.
In addition to Damascus, the fall of the rebels from the city of Homs, north of the capital and the takeover of Deir al-Zur, in the east of the country and controlled until now by Kurdish forces was also confirmed.
For his part, Syria’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ghazi al-Jalali, said on Sunday that he is reaching out to “every Syrian who cares about this country to preserve its institutions,” in a video released after the Islamist insurgents took control of the capital.
In this regard, he said that he was willing to give “all kinds of facilities” to transfer “government files smoothly and systematically to preserve the institutions of the State”, to the new authorities who take power.
In addition, the rebel groups which taken the control of the capital, announced a 13-hour curfew in the Syrian capital: “The Military Operations Command announces a curfew in the city of Damascus from 4 pm to 5 am,” according to a concise rebel statement, It did not specify when it would come into force or how long it would last.
Autor: ACJ
