Dirco monitoring Syria after opposition takes Damascus as Bashar al-Assad flees country [VIDEO]

The Department of International Relations (Dirco) said it is monitoring the situation in Syria.

This after Syrian rebels said they freed the capital Damascus from President Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship early on Sunday after a week of stunning military advances against his forces.

The government has reportedly fallen, bringing an end to the more than five decade rule of the Assad family.

Watch Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali speaking about the developments in Syria

#Syria 🇸🇾 | The government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has fallen… Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali announced on Sunday that he is preparing to hand over the government pic.twitter.com/0QCFllpr3g

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 8, 2024

International Relations Department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told The Citizen, they aware of what is happening in Syria.

“Through our embassy in Syria we are monitoring the situation in Syria and will comment at an appropriate time.”

Assad flees

Assad’s departure comes less than two weeks after the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched its campaign challenging more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.

Assad  is believed to have fled the country in the early hours of Sunday to an unknown destination, Syrian security officials said.

The commander HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, said all state institutions will remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they are handed over officially, Al Jazeera reported.

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Jubilation

Shortly afterwards, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he had left the country, while the rebels themselves said the “tyrant” had “fled”.

Witnesses report jubilation in Damascus, with chants of “Freedom! Freedom!” as Syrians celebrated an end to more than 50 years of rule by Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez before him.

Fighters also reportedly released the prisoners held in Sednaya Prison north of Damascus, as they have done in other cities they have taken during their lightning advance over the past 10 days.

‘Extending hand”

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and turn its functions over to a transitional government.

“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.

The head of Syria’s main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, told Al Jazeera Mubasher TV on Sunday that they would meet with Arab and European countries and the United Nations to agree on next stage for the country.

Assad rule

The Assad family have ruled Syria since 1971 when Hafez al-Assad seized power in a military coup, before his son Bashar inherited the presidency in 2000.

After facing down nationwide protests demanding his ouster and an armed rebellion that he all but crushed, Assad had – until a lightning rebel offensive – taken back control of much of Syria in the civil war that began in 2011.

While leading a merciless war of survival for his rule, Assad presented himself to his people and the outside world as Syria’s only viable leader in the face of the rebel threat.

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