Dec. 8, 2024, 12:59 p.m.
(Photo: AFP)
Syrian rebels said they had entered the capital Damascus and announced the fall of the government of dictator Bashar al-Assad, who has been actively supported by Russia in recent years.
The rebels claim that the Syrian dictator has left the country, Al Jazeera reports.
"Damascus has been liberated, the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown, and the oppressed prisoners in the regime's prisons have been released," the rebels said.
Meanwhile, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali announced that he is ready to support the continuity of the government and will cooperate with any leadership chosen by the Syrian people.
Meanwhile, in the morning, there were reports on social media that the plane with the fugitive Syrian president had crashed and that Bashar al-Assad himself had died, but there has been no official confirmation of this yet. At least the plane has disappeared from radar. According to the FlightRadar24 service, which tracked the movement of the presidential plane IL-76T, the plane is known to have started to descend sharply in the Tartus area. The plane disappeared at an altitude of 495 meters.
According to Reuters , citing two sources in Syria, there is a "very high probability that Assad could have died in the plane crash."
Active clashes between rebels and Syrian troops began on November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in response to months of continuous attacks on civilians by the Assad regime in Aleppo province. It was the most intense fighting in northwestern Syria since 2020, when government forces captured areas previously controlled by opposition fighters. It is also the largest offensive by opposition fighters on the city since they were pushed out of the eastern regions in 2016.
On November 30, the Syrian Armed Forces announced a temporary withdrawal of troops from Aleppo to prepare a counteroffensive against opposition groups.
Кирило Бойко