President Bashar al-Assad Leaves Syria, PM Ready For Handover Of Power To Rebels: Top Updates

Syrian plane took off from Damascus as the rebels reached Damascus, it first went to the coastal region, then took a U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing.

President Bashar al-Assad

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Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said on Sunday, that he was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its power to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led Syrian rebels. “I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property, according to the Associated Press (AP).

This comes after President Bashar al-Assad flew out of Damascus to an unknown destination. When Syrian rebels said they had entered Damascus they didn’t find any army deployment. In the early hours of Sunday, Syrian militants announced that they gained full control of a key city of Homs early on Sunday after only a day of fighting, which brought Assad's 24-year dangling by a thread.

• A Syrian aircraft took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website. The plane initially flew towards the country’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
• Two residents of Damascus said that they heard intense sounds of shooting in the centre of the city, although it wasn’t clear what the source of the shooting was.
• Some witnesses said that at a main square in the capital city, thousands of cars and people on foot congregated waving and chanting "Freedom”. "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," Reuters reported the rebels as saying.
• As per Reuters, in some rural areas in the southwest of the capital, local youths and former rebels took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family's authoritarian rule.
• As per Reuters, the residents of Damascus protested against Assad on Saturday evening, and security forces were unwilling or unable to stop the protests.
• Several residents of Homs had poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting "Assad is gone, Homs is free" and "Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad".
• Rebels freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.