ROME (ITALPRESS) – On Saturday night Syrian rebels took control of Damascus, effectively toppling the Assad regime. President Bashar al Assad is reportedly in Moscow with his family. This was announced by Kremlin sources to the TV station “al Arabiya.” According to this source, Russia would grant political asylum to the former Syrian dictator. Assad had boarded a plane leaving Damascus in the night, decreeing the final end of his regime in Syria. This was while rebels entered the capital with no sign of army deployment.
The head of the main Syrian opposition group abroad Hadi al-Bahra Syrian says Damascus is now “without Bashar al-Assad.”
Syrian rebels also claim that Damascus is “now free of Assad,” urging Syrians abroad to return to their newly liberated country. An al Jazeera TV reporter in Damascus reports seeing groups of armed civilians along the road on the outskirts of the capital and hearing sounds of gunfire. The city’s main police headquarters appeared abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside, they say. Footage circulates on social media of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms are thrown to the ground under a poster of Assad’s face.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali says he is ready to “cooperate” with any leadership chosen by the people and for any handover process after the apparent fall of the Assad regime. “This country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world … but this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with [that leadership] and offer all possible facilities,” Jalali says in a speech broadcast on his Facebook account. (ITALPRESS).
photo source: IPA Agency
