Syrian rebel forces, led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied factions, have announced the fall of the country’s capital, Damascus, after a lightning offensive lasting nearly a week that has caused the collapse of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has been in power for 24 years.
“The tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown. All prisoners have been released from Damascus prison. We hope that all fighters and citizens will preserve the State of Syria,” they said in a statement on public television.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghazu al-Jalali has explained in an interview with Al Arabiya that the government is ready to cooperate with any force and has assured that his last contact with President Bashar al-Assad was on Saturday afternoon.
He has also indicated that he will remain in the country on a “provisional” basis. Bashar Al-Assad, who assumed power in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, is missing and has fled Damascus, according to Syrian rebels.
The leader of HTS, Abu Mohamed al-Golani –whose real name is Ahmed Hussein al-Hamra– has stressed that all military forces are “strictly prohibited from approaching public institutions” and that these “will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister,” according to Syria TV.
