Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has resigned and fled the country, according to the Russian foreign ministry, after a stunning offensive by rebels who seized the capital city of Damascus on Sunday.
Amid scenes of jubilation in the streets, the rebels proclaimed that “the city of Damascus is free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and that “Assad has fled” after various factions encircled the capital from the north and the south.
“The future is ours,” said Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of the triumphant Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Islamist group, in a statement read out on Syrian state television.
“There is no going back,” Jolani added, referring to the start of the revolt more than a decade ago.