The Syrian government fell in a stunning collapse after a rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered Damascus within 10 days, according to AP. The rapid advance ended five decades of Assad family rule and opened an uncertain new phase for Syria and the wider region.
AP reports that state television aired a video statement by men saying President Bashar Assad had been overthrown and that detainees had been freed from prisons. The statement was issued by a group calling itself the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, which urged fighters and citizens to protect state institutions of the “free Syrian state.” The message came after reports that Assad had left the country for an undisclosed destination.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government. In a video statement he said he was still at home, intended to go to his office, and urged Syrians not to damage public property. That put him in the unusual position of trying to preserve the basic machinery of state while the old order was disappearing around him.
The AP account describes scenes in Damascus that showed how quickly the balance had shifted. Crowds gathered in mosques and squares as daylight broke, chanting and firing celebratory gunshots. Soldiers and police abandoned their posts. Looters entered the Defense Ministry headquarters. The police headquarters looked deserted. An AP journalist saw an army checkpoint left behind with uniforms on the ground beneath a portrait of Assad.
The speed of the rebel advance also mattered. It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, AP says, after taking Homs the night before and overrunning key sites along the way. That route suggested the collapse was not a slow unraveling but a fast military and political break.
The report also captured the emotional release after years of fear. Residents told AP they could hardly believe what had happened. One lawyer described the end of what he called a lifetime of terror under Assad and his father. Another celebrant said Syrians had long prayed for such a moment and had finally seen it.
The next questions were obvious: who would control institutions, how detainees would be handled, and whether a transitional arrangement could hold. AP’s report does not answer those questions, but it shows the old system had already begun to dissolve as the first wave of celebrations spread through the capital.
Source basis: AP for the rebel offensive, Assad’s reported departure, the government’s statement, the celebration in Damascus and the collapse of state control.
