As the main rebel group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham focuses on seizing the pivotal city of Damascus, so far they were able to invade and takeover majority of the cities in the country.

On Saturday the group, according to their spokesperson, Lt. Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani were able to 'liberate' four cities - Daraa, Quneitra, Suwayda and Homs.

Speaking to CNN, Ghani said, "We were able to liberate four Syrian cities within 24 hours: Daraa, Quneitra, Suwayda and Homs, and our operations are continuing to liberate the entire Damascus countryside, and our eyes are on the capital, Damascus."

A Damascus resident told CNN that rebel forces appeared to have entered the Syrian capital of Damascus and the Assad regime’s defences have showed signs of collapsing.

The person informed that the rebels were in Barzeh which is a neighborhood inside Damascus city and clashes started to take place in the capital.

CNN quoted the person saying, “I saw rebel fighters moving through the inner alleys of Barzeh toward Police Club Street, and I can hear very loud sounds of clashes. The electricity is cut off, and the internet is very weak, people are staying at their houses.”

There have been several social media posts about President Bashar Assad's status as they claimed that he has fled the country amid crisis.

But Syria's state media denied social media rumours that Assad left the country and stated that he is performing his duties in Damascus.

The United States wants to ensure fighting in Syria does not lead to “a resurgence of [ISIL] ISIS” or a “humanitarian catastrophe”, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said, according to reporting from AFP news agency.

“We have seen reports of ISIS trying… to reconstitute to a certain extent,” Sullivan said at a conference in Simi Valley, California run by the Reagan National Defense Forum, the AFP reported.

The US is working to “take steps ourselves, directly and working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurds,” to ensure ISIL (ISIS) does not “get new oxygen out of this”, Sullivan added.

He also said that the outgoing Biden administration is concerned about ensuring “the protection of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria” as well as its allies in the region, including Israel, from any potential “spillover”, he added.

Sullivan’s comments come as US President-elect Donald Trump wrote, “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend”, and “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT”, in a post on social media on Saturday.

- Al Jazeera

Speaking of the past including Russia's support of President Assad's regime and steps taken by former US President Barack Obama, the newly-elected President Donald Trump in a long post on X made it clear that the United States has nothing to do with the Syrian crisis and advised countrymen to not get involved.

Trump in the post wrote, "Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!"

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting "Freedom", witnesses said.

"We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison," said the rebels.

- Reuters

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic, citing opposition sources, are reporting that the rebels have taken over the Public Radio and TV building in the Syrian capital.

The Public Radio and TV building is an important, symbolic site in Syria.

In addition to being located in the heart of Damascus, the building was used to announce new governments during Syria’s era of successive coups in the 1950s and ’60s.

- Al Jazeera

The opposition forces on Saturday had taken the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, as government forces abandoned it.

The loss of Homs represented a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria's coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader's base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

The insurgency announced later Saturday that it had taken over Homs.

The city's capture was a major victory for the rebels, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27.

Several analysts said that the rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer for their future conquests.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said early Sunday that Syria's President Bashar Assad left the country for an undisclosed location.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus early Sunday.

Abdurrahman's comments came shortly after Syrian insurgents said they had entered Damascus, capping a stunning advance across the country, as residents of the capital reported sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Footage broadcast on opposition-linked media showed a tank in one of the capital's central squares while a small group of people gathered in celebration. Calls of “God is great” rang out from mosques.

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.

There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government. The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that the Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights halted.

- Associated Press

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali stated publicly that he will not be leaving the country and that he wants to ensure that public institutions continue to function.

An Al-Jazeera report quoted him saying, “I urge all to think rationally and to think about the country."

“We extend our hand to the opposition who have extended their hand and asserted that they will not harm anyone who belongs to this country,” he added.

He also called on citizens to protect public property.

For 13 years, Assad has been at war with opposition forces seeking his overthrow, a conflict that’s killed an estimated half a million lives. Around 6.8 million Syrians have fled the country.

Roughly 30 percent of Syria remains outside Assad’s control, divided among various opposition groups and foreign troops. In the northeast, far from Aleppo, the U.S. maintains about 900 troops to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State. Both the U.S. and Israel occasionally carry out strikes in Syria against government forces and Iran-allied militias. Turkey also has troops in Syria and wields influence over the broad coalition of opposition forces advancing on Aleppo.

The Four Main Groups Competing for Control in Syria

• Syrian Government Forces: The army, Assad's primary military force, is supported by the National Defence Forces, a pro-government paramilitary group.

• HTS and Allied Rebel Groups: HTS, an evolution of the al-Nusra Front, was previously linked to al-Qaeda but severed those ties in 2016.

• Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): A Kurdish-dominated, U.S.-backed group that controls parts of eastern Syria.

• Turkish and Turkish-Aligned Syrian Rebel Forces: The Syrian National Army, a Turkish-backed rebel force, operates in northern Syria.

READ FULL STORY

Syria’s rebel coalition is a diverse alliance of Islamist and moderate factions united in their opposition to the Assad regime, ISIS, and Iran-backed militias.

Among the most significant groups is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), founded by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who initially led Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, before splitting in 2016 to form HTS. Despite efforts to distance HTS from al-Qaeda and ISIS, it was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other Western countries in 2018, with a $10 million bounty placed on Jolani’s head.

Another key faction is the Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of dozens of groups with varying ideologies, funded and armed by Turkey. This includes the National Liberation Front, with factions like Ahrar al-Sham advocating for the overthrow of the Assad regime and the establishment of an Islamic state under Sharia law.

Some factions within the rebel coalition are also engaged in conflict with Kurdish forces, such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group allied with the U.S. against ISIS.

Recently, the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captured towns in the Aleppo governorate, previously held by the SDF. Meanwhile, in southern Syria, fighters from the Druze religious minority are also involved, particularly in the city of as-Suwayda, located near Daraa, where opposition forces claim to have taken control.

The situation is complex, with various factions fighting not only the Assad regime but also each other, further entangling Syria’s already fragmented civil war.

This is the first time that opposition forces have reached the outskirts of the Syrian capital since 2018, when the country's troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege.

The approaching fighters are led by the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Both have been entrenched in the northwest. They launched the shock offensive on Nov. 27 with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.

The HTS has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. But the group said in recent years it cut ties with al-Qaida, and experts say HTS has sought to remake itself in recent years by focusing on promoting civilian government in their territory as well as military action.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani told CNN in an exclusive interview Thursday from Syria that the aim of the offensive is to overthrow Assad's government.

(AP inputs)

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. In some areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.

Soldiers and police officers left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.

“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. “After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can't believe it.”

Daher said his father was killed by security forces and his brother was in detention, his fate unknown. Assad “is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog,” he said.”

“Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif, another reveler in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God, we saw it.”

- Associated Press

Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said early Sunday he didn't know the whereabouts of Bashar Assad and his defence minister.

He told the Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that they lost communication Saturday night.

The Israel Defense Forces in a public statement announced that they have deployed forces in buffer zones and other necessary places in order to defend Israel and its civilians.

Their statement read, "In accordance with the situational assessment following the recent events in #Syria, including the entry of armed personnel into the buffer zone, the IDF has deployed forces in the buffer zone and in several other places necessary for its defense, to ensure the safety of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel. We emphasize that the IDF is not interfering with the internal events in Syria. The IDF will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel and its civilians."

Organisations that had previously been close to the government of Bashar Assad attempted to distance themselves after its rapid fall.

Syria's al-Watan newspaper, historically pro-government, wrote: “We are facing a new page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding more blood. We believe and trust that Syria will be for all Syrians.”

It added that media workers should not be blamed for publishing government statements in the past.

“We only carried out the instructions and published the news they sent us,” it said. “It quickly became clear now that it was false.”

A statement from the Alawite sect - to which Assad belongs and which has formed the core of his base - called on the youth to be “calm, rational and prudent and not to be dragged into what tears apart the unity of our country.”

“We were and still are advocates of peace and advocates of unity,” it said. It called for “the language of reason and dialogue to prevail over all parties in the service of Syria and its great people.”

- Associated Press

Rebel fighters declared the Syrian capital of Damascus “liberated” in a televised statement carried on state television on Sunday.

“Damascus has been liberated and the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown, and oppressed prisoners in regime prisons have been released,” a spokesperson said reading from a statement surrounded by roughly a dozen other rebels.

“We ask people and fighters to protect all property in Free Syria…long live Syria free for all Syrians of all sects,” he added.

The rebels moved to capture the state media offices early on Sunday morning after entering Damascus.

- CNN

The HTS chief says all opposition forces in Damascus are prohibited from taking over public institutions, “which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until it is handed over officially”.

“Celebratory gunfire is also prohibited,” Al-Julani added in a statement.

The Syrian opposition leader has been signing his statements with his legal name Ahmed al-Sharaa in an apparent effort to distance himself from his past ties to al-Qaeda.

Al-Assad’s prime minister said earlier that he will remain in Damascus to oversee state institutions.

- Al-Jazeera

Daniel B Shapiro, a deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East, said the US presence was “solely to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

“We call on all parties in Syria to protect civilians, particularly those from Syria's minority communities to respect international military norms and to work to achieve a resolution to include the political settlement,” Shapiro said.

“Multiple actors in this conflict have a terrible track record to include Assad's horrific crimes, Russia's indiscriminate aerial bomb bombardment, Iranian-back militia involvement and the atrocities of ISIS.”

Shapiro, however, was careful not to directly say Assad had been deposed by the insurgents.

“If confirmed no one should shed any tears over the Assad regime,” he added.

Iran’s embassy in Damascus was stormed after the rebel takeover of the Syrian capital, Iranian state-run Press TV said.

Separately, a video published on Saudi state media showed what appeared to be damage to the Iranian embassy and a torn poster of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was responsible for building a network of Iran-alled militias in Syria to support the Assad regime before he was killed by a US airstrike at Baghdad airport in January 2020.

- CNN

Daniel Shapiro, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East, has urged all parties in Syria to “protect civilians” and work towards an “inclusive political settlement”.

If the fall of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad’s government is confirmed, “no one should shed tears”, said Shapiro.

He added that the US would keep forces in eastern Syria to counter the threat of ISIL, but this presence “has nothing to do with other aspects of the conflict in Syria”.

As President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has fallen in Syria, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has emerged as a key figure.

Julani, who spent years operating from the shadows, is now in the spotlight, giving interviews to international media and appearing on the ground.

Born Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in 1982, Julani spent his early years in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil engineer. The family later moved to Damascus, the city his grandfather had relocated to after Israel’s occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights. Julani has said he was radicalised by the second intifada in 2000. READ FULL STORY HERE

US President-elect Donald Trump has reacted after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the country and rebel troops stormed into the capital, Damascus.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. Russia, a staunch Assad ally, intervened decisively in 2015 to prop him up during Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry has released a statement pledging to represent all citizens as the country starts a new chapter.

The new era, the ministry said, will be based on “justice and equality, where everyone enjoys all rights and fulfils all duties”.

The ministry and its missions abroad “remain committed to serving all citizens and facilitating their affairs, driven by the trust placed in them to represent the Syrian people”, it added.

Iranian diplomats in Damascus left their embassy before members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stormed it earlier today, reports Iran’s Tehran Times, citing Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei.

The Iranian officials are safe, Baghaei told the daily.

Iran, along with Russia, has been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Both countries are currently preoccupied with other conflicts. Russia is focused on its war in Ukraine, while Iran’s regional proxies have been weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes.

President Bashar al-Assad has left Syria, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday. Assad “decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully,” the statement said, adding that “Russia did not participate in these negotiations.”

“The Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition,” it said.

Russia, along with Iran, has been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

China on Sunday asked the rebel forces, which took control of the Syrian capital to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and its institutions in the country. Reacting to the rebel takeover of Syria, China, which had backed the Assad regime, said it was closely following the situation in the Arab country and hoped that stability would return as soon as possible.

A Foreign Ministry statement here said the Chinese Embassy is open in Damascus and extending all possible assistance to its nationals.

"We urge relevant parties in Syria to ensure the safety and security of the Chinese institutions and personnel in Syria,” it said. The Chinese government has been actively helping Chinese nationals who wish to leave the country to do so in a safe and orderly way, staying in contact with those still in Syria and offering them advice on how to stay safe, it said.

“The Chinese Embassy is still up and running and carrying out its duty in Syria. We will continue to make every possible assistance to Chinese nationals in need," it said. (PTI Inputs)

The Syrian opposition has declared a curfew in the capital from 4pm (13:00 GMT) until 5am (02:00 GMT), according to a statement by their Military Operations Command on Telegram.

The move comes after its fighters took over the capital in the morning, with President al-Assad reportedly leaving it. The Syrian capital is witnessing a significant armed rebel presence and continuous celebratory gunfire, live videos showed.

French President Emmanuel Macron has praised the Syrian people’s “courage” and “patience” after opposition forces ousted al-Assad from power.

“The barbaric state has fallen. Finally. I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience. In this moment of uncertainty, I wish them peace, freedom and unity,” Macron said in a post on X.

“France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces have seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. He spoke on Sunday after a lightning rebel advance ended Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule.

Netanyahu said the decades-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover.

Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The international community, except for the United States, views it as occupied Syrian territory. (AP inputs)

Iran, which had strongly backed President Bashar Assad's deposed government, says Syrians should decide their country's future without “without destructive, coercive, foreign intervention.”

The statement from the Foreign Ministry on Sunday was the country's first official reaction to the overthrow of Assad's government by rebel forces, who reached capital Damascus over the weekend.

Iran has been a staunch supporter of Assad throughout the nearly 14-year civil war.

Syria should have an 18 month transition period to establish "a safe, neutral, and quiet environment" for free elections, Hadi Al-Bahra, the head of Syria's main opposition abroad, said to news agency Reuters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Sunday.

Al-Bahra, President of the Syrian National Coalition, said Syria should draft a constitution within six months, on which the first election would be a referendum.

"The constitution will say, are we going to have a parliamentary system, presidential system, or mixed system? And based on this, we do the election and the people choose their leader," said Al-Bahra.

Turkey, which shares a 911-kilometre-long frontier with Syria, has been a main backer of opposition groups aiming to topple Assad since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.

While Turkish officials have strongly rejected claims of any involvement, observers believe that the offensive, which appears to be aligned with Turkey's long-time goals, could not have gone ahead without Ankara's consent.

It has allowed Turkey, through its Syrian proxy the Syrian National Army, to push back against Kurdish forces in Syria allied to its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. READ FULL STORY