Syria now free as ‘tyrant’ Assad has fled: Rebels

Rebel forces have declared Syria “free”, saying the “tyrant” President Bashar al-Assad has left, according to BBC.

It is the end of a dark era and the beginning of a new one, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) says on Telegram.

People who were displaced or were imprisoned by the Assad regime’s half-century reign can now come home, the rebels say.

It will be a “new Syria” where “everyone lives in peace and justice prevails”, HTS says.

In another post on Telegram, the leader of the Islamist militant group HTS has announced that it is forbidden for military forces in the city to approach “public institutions” in Damascus.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani adds that these institutions “will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over”.

Earlier, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday (December 8), two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom”, witnesses said.