Syrians Celebrate Regime Fall as Assad Flees to Russia | LIVE UPDATES

The US and Israel struck dozens of the ISIS targets inside Syria, just hours after rebels seized the capital Damascus and forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia after 13 years of civil war and six decades of his family's autocratic rule.

Russia requested for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Syria, Moscow's deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanksy posted on Telegram. Multiple reports suggest that UNSC will convene for an emergency closed door meeting Monday afternoon to deliberate Syria in the aftermath of President Bashar al-Assad's fall in the country.

Egypt has reaffirmed its support for Syria, urging all Syrian parties to prioritize the nation's supreme interest by unifying their objectives and priorities. 

In a statement carried by Ahram Online, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo emphasized the importance of safeguarding Syria's resources and national institutions. Egypt also reiterated its support for the Syrian state and people, and its commitment to Syria's sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.
 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement, “This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers.”

"This collapse is the direct result of our forceful action against Hezbollah and Iran, Assad's main supporters. It set off a chain reaction of all those who want to free themselves from this tyranny and its oppression," his tweet further read.

In a post on social media platform X, President Macron said: “I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience. In this moment of uncertainty, I send them my wishes for peace, freedom, and unity.”

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

Trudeau wrote on X: 'The fall of Assad's dictatorship ends decades of brutal oppression. A new chapter for Syria can begin — one free of terrorism and suffering for the Syrian people.'

'Canada is monitoring this transition closely. We urge order, stability, and respect for human rights,' he further stated."

President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast.

Biden spoke at the White House hours after after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country after more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Assad and his family. Biden said the United States was unsure of Assad's whereabouts, but was monitoring reports he was seeking refuge in Moscow.

The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East.

Biden credited action by the US and its allies for weakening Syria's backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He said “for the first time” that they could no longer defend Assad's grip on power.

“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East," Biden said, after a meeting with his national security team at the White House.

Syrian General Command has said that their armed forces units are strengthening their deployment lines throughout the Damascus countryside and the southern region to prevent any incidents resulting from the chaos that terrorists are trying to create through their platforms, tools, and sleeper cells in some areas.

Syrian rebels battled government forces for control of the key city of Homs on Saturday and advanced towards the capital Damascus as front lines collapsed across the country, throwing President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule into the balance.

Since the rebels' sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities and rose up in places where the rebellion had long seemed over.

The twin threats to strategically vital Homs and the capital Damascus now pose an existential danger to the Assad dynasty's five-decade reign over Syria and the continued influence there of its main regional backer Iran.

Insurgents' stunning march across Syria gained speed on Saturday with news that they had reached the suburbs of the capital and with the government forced to deny rumours that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.

The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by an opposition war monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including two provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.

The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the US and the United Nations. As they have advanced, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.

The UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute.

In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands rushed the Syria border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country.

Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun has said to Syria's state TV that “There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far edges of Damascus and its countryside, and no one... can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building". 

The Islamist rebels of Syria are closing in on Damascus and Homs, after taking major cities like Aleppo. Damascus is the capital of Syria but Homs is also important for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

Strategic importance of the city aside, Homs is also important for another reason. It is Asma Assad's (Bashar al Assad's wife) family's hometown. Although she grew up in west London, and worked as a banker for JP Morgan before marrying Bashar, she, over the years, developed a keen interest in Syria and her family's roots. When Asma married Bashar, she gave up on the offer she had from Harvard Business School. In one interview, when she was asked if she regretted her decision, she replied by saying “who'll choose Harvard over love?”

We know a lot about the relationship between Syria's President and his wife, compared to other world leaders, because their emails were leaked back in 2012. There was a suspicion that Assad was cheating on his wife. Someone accessed his personal emails in the hope they'll be able to damage him. However, the leaked emails did something quite different. 

In 2011, as rebels attacked Asma's ancestral town, Homs, she wrote an email to Bashar which read "If we are strong together, we will overcome this together...I love you.”

The Syrian President replied to the email from his wife with a heart emoji. Few days later, she wrote “Sometimes at night, when I look to the sky, I start thinking of you and ask myself, why? Why do I love you? I think and smile, because I know the list could run on for miles.”

In an email to her friend, Syria's first lady boasted to her friend that she is the “REAL dictator” in their marriage. In one email, the Syrian President emailed his wife a country song with the lyrics “I've made a mess of me/The person that I've been lately/Ain't who I wanna be.”

In 2018, it was reported that Bashar's wife was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

If Damascus does indeed fall and Assad and his wife don't escape (assuming they already haven't), it isn't clear what their fate would be. 

Turkey's President Erdogan has claimed that he hopes Syria finds ‘peace and tranquility’. 

“I want to say this openly: We do not have our eyes on land — not even a pebble — that belongs to another country. As Turkey, our wish is for our neighbor Syria to quickly attain the peace and tranquility it has longed for for 13 years. Everyone must accept that in Syria, political and diplomatically, there is a new reality," he said.

Erdogan's Turkey has backed and funded the so-called Syrian National Army, which is an umbrella group of Islamist rebels. 

Hundreds of Syrians are fleeing Damascus as the rebel Islamist groups, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani of the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), are moving towards the city. HTS is an offshot of Al Qaeeda and they intend to impose Sharia. 

“People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly,” Jolani said, in a recent interview with CNN. HTS is a designated terrorist organization. However, all American news houses have avoided using that term in their coverage. They are referred to as merely ‘rebels’.

Many believe that the collapse of the Assad regime, will be bad, as the current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is a secular leader.

The UN''s special envoy for Syria has said that the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to hold urgent talks in Geneva. He added that he has also been in touch with representatives from US, UK and France. 

US' President Elected Donald Trump has said that US should have nothing to do with Syria. 

“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!," he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

It is worth mentioning that the US is deeply involved in the Syrian civil war and has been for years. US is, as of now, providing logistical support to the Islamist rebels. US has provided support to these forces for years. The surprise assault by the rebel forces, which began on November 27th, would not have been possible without US' support. 

There are rumors on social media sites suggesting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Syria, along with his wife Asma Assad (who used to be a banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions for JP Morgan).

Syria's state news agency has said that the President remains in Syria and is carrying out his work as usual from the capital. Assad studied medicine trained in London, specializing in Ophthalmology. His regime is one of the few regimes in the region which is not Islamist. 

Lebanon's Hezbollah has sent 2,000 fighters to Syria amid mounting pressure on Damascus from a rebel offensive that has captured significant territory, a source close to the group revealed on Saturday, according to a report from AFP. The fighters have been dispatched to the Qusayr region, near the Lebanese border, to "defend its positions" in the area, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.

While Hezbollah has been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the civil war in 2011, the source emphasized that the group has not yet participated in any recent battles against the advancing rebels.

Rebel Offensive Alters the Battlefield

The Islamist-led rebel coalition has seized two major cities, Aleppo in the north and Hama in the center, over the past week. Their offensive began on November 27, coinciding with a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel that has reportedly left the Lebanese group weakened.

Rebels are now approaching the strategically vital city of Homs and advancing toward Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Hezbollah’s Role in Syria

Since 2013, Hezbollah has played a prominent role in supporting Assad’s forces, helping reclaim critical territory during earlier stages of the conflict. One notable victory came in 2013 when Hezbollah forces aided the Syrian army in recapturing the city of Qusayr, where the group later established a military base.

In recent years, as the conflict quieted, Hezbollah had withdrawn most of its fighters, retaining only military advisers in cities like Aleppo and Hama. However, the resurgence of conflict has prompted a renewed deployment of forces.

The source also disclosed that 150 Hezbollah military advisers have been sent to Homs to support the Syrian army “if it decides to defend” the city.

Regional Impact

Iran, another staunch ally of Assad, has also suffered losses during the recent rebel advances. On November 28, Tehran announced the death of a Revolutionary Guards general in Aleppo.

Russia and Iran have been pivotal in sustaining Assad’s regime, aiding in regaining control over significant portions of Syria in the past decade. Hezbollah’s latest deployment signals a shift in its strategy as the situation grows increasingly precarious for Damascus.

For now, Hezbollah’s fighters remain positioned to protect its established footholds along the Syria-Lebanon border, with its leadership yet to decide whether to engage in the intensifying battles.