Syrian rebels say they’ve captured capital as Bashar al-Assad reported to have fled Damascus – stay updates

Eleni Courea is a political correspondent for the Guardian.

Within the UK, Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, welcomed the autumn of the Assad regime in Syria.

She instructed Sky Information’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “The situation looks very serious. If Assad’s regime has fallen I welcome that news”. She added that Assad “wasn’t exactly good to the Syrian people”.

“What we need to see is a political resolution in line with the UN resolutions. We need to see civilians and infrastructure protected, far too many people have lost their lives, we need stability in that region,” the deputy prime minister stated.

Requested about British residents in Syria, Rayner stated: “We’ve had a plan to ensure that people were evacuated ahead of what’s happened over the weekend and we continue to support our UK nationals.”

Iranian media is reporting that Iran’s embassy in Damascus has been attacked. Photographs circulating on social media reveals among the constructing’s home windows have been damaged.

Movies additionally present a banner of former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah – who was assassinated by Israeli forces in September – and Iranian common Qassem Suleimani – who was killed in US airstrikes in 2020 – after it was defaced by the group.

Welcome again to our stay protection of the insurgent offensive that appears to have been profitable in toppling the Syrian authorities, led by longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Listed here are the newest developments:

• Insurgent forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, in Damascus have declared the Syrian capital “free” of Assad as authorities forces withdraw their presence.

• Within the capital’s central sq., folks climbed on high of tanks and cheered as they trampled on a toppled statue of Assad’s father, Hafez.

• The Syrian insurgent coalition stated it’s persevering with work to finish the switch of energy in Syria to a transitional governing physique with full government powers.

• Syrian prime minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali stated the federal government is able to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its capabilities to a transitional authorities. “I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili stated.

• Syria’s military command notified officers on Sunday that Assad’s regime had ended, Reuters is reporting. However the Syrian military later stated it was persevering with operations in opposition to “terrorist groups” in the important thing cities of Hama and Homs and in Deraa countryside.

• Assad, who has dominated the nation for practically 25 years, has reportedly left Damascus by airplane for an unknown vacation spot.

• US president-elect Donald Trump stated on Sunday that Assad had “fled his country” after dropping the backing of Russia. “Assad is gone,” he stated on his Reality Social platform. “His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

• Outgoing US President Joe Biden and his staff have been monitoring the “extraordinary events in Syria” and have been in contact with regional companions, the White Home stated.

• As armed rebels swept cities throughout the nation, they flung open detention services the place rights teams estimated that no less than 100,000 folks have been thought of lacking or forcibly disappeared since 2011 by the hands of the state. This included the Sednaya army jail, a facility infamous as the positioning of significantly brutal and humiliating strategies of torture.

• Iraq has reportedly evacuated its embassy in Syria and moved workers to Lebanon, hours after rebels overthrew Assad and took management of the capital. Causes behind the evacuation weren’t made public.