After spending almost a quarter of a century at the head of a liberticidal regime which ruled Syria with an iron fist, the “tyrant” Bashar al-Assad has “fled”, announced the rebel groups that entered Sunday in the capital Damascus.
Mr. Assad’s departure for an unknown destination took place with the greatest discretion.
– How did Assad disappear?
Aboard a private plane which took off from Damascus international airport, the Syrian head of state left the capital on Saturday at 10 p.m. (7 p.m. GMT), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) .
From then on, nothing could prevent the withdrawal of the Syrian army and security forces from the airport, according to the OSDH.
A few hours were enough for the rebel groups to announce the fall of the “tyrant” and the “liberation” of Damascus, calling on the millions of Syrians refugees abroad and thrown on the road to exile to return home in a ” Free Syria.
If total uncertainty reigns over Mr. Assad’s destination, three options are available to him, according to the director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel Rahmane.
He could go to Russia, unwavering support which has engaged its air force in the war in Syria to put Mr. Assad back in the saddle. Iran, another ally which sent military advisers and armed factions to fight alongside the Syrian government. And finally the United Arab Emirates, one of the first Gulf countries to have reestablished diplomatic relations with Damascus in 2018, after having severed them in the wake of the conflict started in 2011.
– What about the Syrian army?
After the announcement of Assad’s departure, Syrian army soldiers in Damascus immediately removed their military uniforms, according to testimonies from residents collected by AFP.
A witness said he saw dozens of abandoned military vehicles on Sunday morning in the Mazzé district, housing the premises of several security and military institutions as well as embassies.
The Syrian army has not issued any official statement or comment. Soldiers interviewed by AFP assured that they had been asked to withdraw from their positions and return home.
On the road linking Homs, the central metropolis, to the capital Damascus, an AFP correspondent saw hundreds of soldiers gathered near checkpoints set up by rebel fighters.
At the start of their dazzling offensive launched at the end of November, violent fighting pitted the rebels against government forces, especially during the first two days, leaving dozens dead on both sides.
Subsequently, the rebels advanced at lightning speed, without encountering “any notable resistance” from the soldiers, according to the OSDH and the insurgents, who thus conquered in quick succession the large metropolises of Aleppo (north), Hama and Homs in the center. Until entering Damascus on Sunday.
Since 2011, the Syrian army has been bled dry by the conflict, losing half of its 300,000 pre-war soldiers.
Several experts have highlighted in recent days the weakness of the armed forces engaged on the ground, in the absence of real support from the Russian and Iranian allies.
At dawn on Sunday, a source close to pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government, reported that the movement’s fighters had withdrawn from their positions near Damascus and in an area on the border with neighboring Lebanon. These sectors notably housed weapons warehouses.
– Who is now in power?
Rebels have proclaimed a “new era” in Syria. The head of the Damascus government, who took office as Prime Minister in September, said he was willing to cooperate with any new “leadership” chosen by the Syrian people for a “transfer” of power.
The commander-in-chief of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS, who leads the rebel coalition on the offensive in Syria, called on his fighters not to approach public institutions, specifying that they would remain under the control of “l ‘former Prime Minister’ until this handover is done officially.
With the rout of the Syrian army, in a country already fragmented by war, the other belligerents with divergent interests, who benefit from international and regional support, find themselves facing major challenges.
“The main challenge today is the reconstruction of the Syrian state, and the exit from a phase of chaos and fragmentation,” underlines the researcher at the Carnegie Center for the Middle East, Mohanad Hage Ali.
To date, the rebels were “conscientious in their relations with minorities and their prisoners”, he admits: “Let’s hope that this will translate into the reconstruction of state institutions”.
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