President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has fled to Russia In a stunning fall yesterday after he lost his hold on power to a lightning fast offensive by rebels.
Earlier in the day, the main group in the rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, announced that its fighters had taken the capital. “The city of Damascus has been liberated; the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been toppled,” a rebel said in a state television broadcast, adding, “Long live a free and independent Syria for all Syrians of all sects.”
The al-Assad family had ruled Syria with an iron fist since the early 1970s, and many citizens greeted the president’s fall with hope after long living in fear of their oppressive government. But deep uncertainty over who will rule Syria next raised worries of a possible power vacuum, even as celebratory gunfire crackled around Damascus and prisoners were freed.
