Sunni militants take Damascus as Bashar al-Assad flees

Fourth World
December 8th, 2024

Sixty-one years of Baath Party rule in Syria came to an end today as the capital Damascus fell out of government control. 

After a week of resurgent fighting on three fronts, the forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly the al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaeda), have entered and taken over Damascus without any sign of army deployments.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left for an unknown destination, two senior army officers familiar with the incident told Reuters on Sunday.

President Bashar al-Assad left Damascus at 10pm on Saturday and the army command informed its officers and soldiers of the “fall of the regime”, according to the director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

From Russia's RT, we learn: “The plane reportedly carrying President Bashar Assad has disappeared from radar, according to data from the flight tracker Flightradar. Syrian Airlines Ilyushin Il-76T departed from Damascus International Airport, suddenly lost altitude a few minutes later, and then disappeared from radar.” 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that the Sunni jihadists had entered Damascus. They also claimed that Syrian forces are withdrawing from the capital.

Damascus International Airport has been evacuated of all its employees and all flights have been suspended, Radio Al Shams said, citing a correspondent.

Earlier, on the outskirts of Damascus, the Sednaya military prison, the most important in the country, was taken, freeing those detained by the government of Bashar Al Assad.

The Sunni militants also announced that they had gained full control of the key city of Homs on Sunday morning after just one day of fighting. 

Latakia, Syria's main port city and the Alawite heartland, has remained relatively untouched by this latest conflict, the rebels not having moved any of their forces there. 

The rapidity of the Syrian government's collapsed has astounded many, with speculation rife that some kind of back-room deal was reached, allowing Assad's hasty departure and the army's committment to refrain from fighting.

On 'X', George Galloway observed that: 

“[t]he last castle of Arab dignity has fallen. The last Arab Republic. The last of the front-line states. The castle was rotten from within. The long-siege made thousands rich and millions poor. Israel is greater (literally) overnight. But nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first appears. Millions of Syrian refugees in Europe will have to return now. I hope that is clear to all. The new leader is a Co-founder of ISIS and STILL has a US government bounty of $10 million on his head (presumably no longer collectible). Syria was a secular republic with large ethnic and religious minorities whose flight will replace the returning refugees."

Jihadists take control of Damascus: