Syria latest: Syrians celebrate Bashar Assad’s fall as his whereabouts remain unknown

Crowds gathered in Syria’s Damascus on Sunday to celebrate the fall of Bashar Assad’s government with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after opposition fighters entered the capital following a stunning advance.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition war monitor, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government and Assad’s whereabouts remain unknown.

It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018 when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.

The night before, opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it.

The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too.

Here’s the Latest:

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the end of Assad’s rule as he called for peace and the protection of civilians.

“The Syrian people have suffered under Assad’s barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure,” Starmer said.

He said the U.K. was focused on a political solution to restore peace and stability.

“We call on all sides to protect civilians and minorities and ensure essential aid can reach the most vulnerable in the coming hours and days,” he said.

AMMAN, Jordan — The vast majority of the Jordanian people are welcoming the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the success of the Syrian revolution.

“There is no doubt that I felt overwhelming joy at the fall of the Assad regime,” said Badi Al-Rafaia, Engineer, union activist and member of the Islamic Action Front. “There is no doubt that we are happy with what happened in Syria, happy with the success of the revolution, happy with the Syrian people getting rid of an oppressor and criminal who treated the Syrian people and made the Syrian state a failed state.”

Al-Rafaia said that Jordan is benefiting from what happened in Syria, and “we hope that Jordan will help the revolution succeed and not work against it.”

Amman resident Muhab al-Majali said the fall of the Assad regime is “The end of every unjust and tyrannical rule, and more than that, it mortgaged the country and its people to the Iranians, who abandoned it in minutes… I believe that the future is beautiful and prosperous for the Syrians.”

BERLIN — The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for safe humanitarian access and protection of civilians in Syria after the fall of Bashir Assad’s government.

“Our teams in Syria, including in Damascus, have been closely monitoring the fast-evolving security and humanitarian situation in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent,” the ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria, Stephan Sakalian, said in a written statement Sunday.

The ICRC is “responding wherever possible, with further efforts underway, as hundreds of thousands of people need care and humanitarian assistance,” he said.

Sakalian called “on all parties to urgently enable safe and unhindered access for medical and humanitarian workers to reach those in need, to protect civilians, and to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.”

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said in a statement Sunday that it “supports all international and regional efforts seeking to open a dialogue” for Syria “leading to the adoption of a pluralistic constitution that preserves the human and civil rights of Syrians, and supports cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.”

The statement from government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi, said that Iraq understands “the necessity of respecting the free will of all Syrians, and stresses that the security of Syria, the unity of its territories, and the preservation of its independence are of utmost importance, not only for Iraq but also for its connection to the security and stability of the region.”