The Syrian Army Command has informed officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s rule is over, Syrian media reported.
The headquarters of the Syrian Defence Ministry is being abandoned by soldiers, Al Jazeera reported. Soldiers are also leaving checkpoints in Damascus.
The rebel leadership has demanded that the militants not seize state institutions but wait for a planned transfer of power. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he was ready to co-operate with any leadership chosen by the Syrian people and take any measures to “hand over” power. He added that he remains in his home in Damascus.
There is chaos at Damascus airport , with dozens of people passing through checkpoints and running to boarding gates, CNN reported. Others in the capital are celebrating the rebel victory with gunfire and dancing in the streets.
World reaction to the Syrian coup
US President-elect Donald Trump called on the United States to stay out of the conflict on Saturday on the Truth Social network. He wrote:
“Syria is a mess, but it is not our friend and the United States should have nothing to do with it.”
According to the US Department of Defence, about 900 US troops are currently deployed in Syria to fight ISIS in the region.
Israeli actions against Iran and Hezbollah movement led to the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“This was the consequence of the strikes that we inflicted on Iran, on Hezbollah,” Israeli media quoted him as saying.
At the same time, Netanyahu said that the buffer zone agreement on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria, in place since the 1970s, is now de facto defunct.
“This agreement no longer exists: the Syrian military has abandoned its positions,” the Israeli prime minister said. He assured that Israel would defend its borders against hostile groups.
Conflict escalation
Armed opposition units took control of Damascus, Syria’s capital, on the night of December 8. Arab Republic President Bashar al-Assad left the city on an Il-62 aircraft, but preliminary reports suggest his plane may have been shot down near Homs. Assad was flying from the south of the country to the north, towards Russian military bases on the coast. The fate of the Russian military in Tartus and Hmeimim remains unknown for now.
Since November 27, Syrian jihadists led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly part of al-Qaeda, have launched major offensives on several fronts in Syria, pushing further into government-controlled territory after capturing key cities such as Aleppo and Hama. Earlier, Reuters sources said the city of Homs, a major hub connecting Damascus to government strongholds on the coast, fell to a militant onslaught late on Saturday night after fighting that lasted less than a day.
