DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The leader of Syria’s biggest rebel faction in his first public appearance since the fall of Bashar Assad calls it “a victory to the Islamic nation.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The leader of Syria’s biggest rebel faction in his first public appearance since the fall of Bashar Assad calls it “a victory to the Islamic nation.”
Others gleefully ransacked the presidential palace and residence after President Bashar Assad and other top officials vanished, their whereabouts unknown. Russia, a close ally, said Assad left the country after negotiations with rebel groups and had given instructions to transfer power peacefully. The rebels said they freed people held at the notorious Saydnaya prison, where rights groups say thousands were tortured and killed. A video circulating online purported to show rebels breaking open cell doors and freeing dozens of female prisoners, many of whom appeared shocked and confused. At least one small child could be seen among them.
Soldiers and police left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Defense Ministry. Videos showed families wandering into the presidential palace, with some emerging carrying stacks of plates and other household items. A statement from the Alawite sect — to which Assad belongs and which has formed the core of his base — called on young Syrians to be “calm, rational and prudent and not to be dragged into what tears apart the unity of our country.”
Anwar Gargash said Assad's destination at this point is a “footnote in history,” comparing it to the long exile of German Kaiser Wilhelm II after World War I.
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