Syrian government falls to fast-moving rebels, ending 50 years of iron rule by the Assad family

DAMASCUS, Syria (news agencies) — The Syrian government collapsed early Sunday, falling to a lightning rebel offensive that seized control of the capital of Damascus and sent crowds into the streets to celebrate the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule.

Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been set free.

The man who read the statement said the opposition group, known as the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, called on all rebel fighters and citizens to preserve the institutions of “the free Syrian state.”

The statement emerged hours after the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus following a remarkably swift advance across the country.

Many of the capital’s residents were in disbelief at the speed at which Assad lost his hold on the country after nearly 14 years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced half the country’s prewar population of 23 million and drew in several foreign powers.

As daylight broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to pray in the city’s mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting “God is great.” People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked car horns. Teen boys picked up weapons that had apparently been discarded by security forces and fired them in the air.

Revelers filled Umayyad Square in the city center, where the Defense Ministry is located. Men fired celebratory gunshots into the air and some waved the three-starred Syrian flag that predates the Assad government and was adopted by the revolutionaries. A few kilometers (miles) away, Syrians stormed the presidential palace, tearing up portraits of the toppled president.

Soldiers and police officers left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Defense Ministry. Videos from Damascus showed families wandering into the presidential palace, with some emerging carrying stacks of plates and other household items.