AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as militants announced 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.
“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,” said the militants.
Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by militants, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’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.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Thousands of Homs residents 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 Assad.”
Militants fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.
The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.
Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the militant movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the militants and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the main militant leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”
Militants freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.
Syrian militant commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and militant forces were looking toward the capital.
