Il Nuovo Postiglione - Celebrations across Syria mark end of Assad rule

Assad's whereabouts were not immediately clear, but his key backer Russia said he had resigned from the presidency and left Syria.

Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets as the rebel factions heralded the departure of "tyrant" Assad, saying: "We declare the city of Damascus free."

AFPTV footage showed a column of smoke rising from central Damascus, and AFP correspondents in the city saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad's luxurious home after it had been looted.

The rooms of the residence had been left completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor, while an entrance hall at the presidential palace not far away had been torched.

"I can't believe I'm living this moment," tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone.

"We've been waiting a long time for this day," he said, adding: "We are starting a new history for Syria."

Assad's reported departure comes less than two weeks after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group challenged more than five decades of Assad family rule with a lightning offensive.

"After 50 years of oppression under Baath rule, and 13 years of crimes and tyranny and (forced) displacement... we announce today the end of this dark period and the start of a new era for Syria," the rebel factions said on Telegram.

While there has been no communication from Assad or his entourage on his whereabouts, Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with "any leadership chosen by the Syrian people".

The head of war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP: "Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left" the facility.

AFP has been unable to independently verify some of the information provided by the different parties, including the reported departure.

- Prisoners set free -

Around the country, people toppled statues of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad's father and the founder of the system of government that he inherited.

For the past 50 years in Syria, even the slightest suspicion of dissent could land one in prison or get one killed.

As rebels entered the capital, HTS said its fighters broke into a jail on the outskirts of Damascus, announcing an "end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya", which has become a by-word for the darkest abuses of Assad's era.

The rapid developments came just hours after HTS said it had captured the strategic city of Homs, where prisoners were also released.

Homs was the third major city seized by the rebels, who began their advance on November 27, reigniting a years-long war that had become largely dormant.

US President Joe Biden was keeping a close eye on the "extraordinary events" unfolding in Syria, the White House said.

US president-elect Donald Trump said that Assad had "fled his country" after losing Russia's backing.

Assad's rule had for years also been supported by Lebanese group Hezbollah, whose forces "vacated their positions around Damascus", a source close to it said Sunday.

- 'Syria is ours' -

Rebel factions aired a statement on Syrian state television, saying they had toppled the "tyrant" Assad and urged fighters and citizens to safeguard the "property of the free Syrian state".

State TV later broadcast a message proclaiming the "victory of the great Syrian revolution".

According to the rebels, the Islamist leader of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, arrived in Damascus on Sunday.

HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.

Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years, and has told minority groups living in areas it now controls not to worry.

Before Sunday's announcements, Damascus residents had described to AFP a state of panic as traffic jams clogged the city centre, with people seeking supplies and queueing to withdraw money.

But morning saw chants and cheering, with celebratory gunfire and shouts of "Syria is ours and not the Assad family's".

Before Damascus, a string of towns and cities, including the northern city of Aleppo, had fallen from Assad's hands.

The commander of Syria's US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of northeast Syria, hailed "historic" moments with the fall of Assad's "authoritarian regime".

In a sign of the complexity of Syria's war, Israel struck Syrian army weapons depots Sunday on the outskirts of Damascus, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources around the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of Assad was a "historic day in the... Middle East" and the fall of a "central link in Iran's axis of evil".

"This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, Assad's main supporters," he added.

The rebel offensive began the very day a ceasefire took effect in Lebanon after nearly a year of war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The UN envoy for Syria said Syria was at "a watershed moment", while Turkey, which has historically backed the opposition, called for a "smooth transition".

Iran, a key backer of Assad throughout the civil war years, said it expected "friendly" ties with Syria to continue, even as its embassy in Damascus was vandalised.

Jordan urged its citizens to leave neighbouring Syria "as soon as possible", as have the United States and Russia, which both keep troops in Syria.

Since the rebels' offensive began, at least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said.

The United Nations said the violence has displaced 370,000 people.

R.Agosti--INP