BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a lightning rebel offensive.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a remarkably swift advance across the country.

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

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    7 days ago

    Not that Assad isn’t a massive cunt, but I do wonder what might happen next.

    For reference here is a news article about a certain group taking Afghanistan in 1996, and the tone about today’s news seems oddly familiar.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/27/newsid_2539000/2539973.stm

    The PM may call for free elections all he wants, but a group that has spent the last decade shedding blood for this moment my not see things quite the same way.

    Still, the Syrian government and Hezbollah were in cahoots, so I can think of at least one Syrian neighbour that will be celebrating this. It’s one less route for weapons to end up in the West Bank.