US conducts mass airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria following rebel takeover
As statues of Assad and his father Hafez were being toppled across Syria, in Damascus a jubilant Ghazal al-Sharif was rejoicing. He said: “Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family"
The US confirmed it had launched a huge wave of airstrikes against known ISIS targets in Syria tonight, after the rebels officially took control of Damascus.
The airstrikes were targeting more than 75 known ISIS camps, leaders, and operatives, and included B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, and A-10 attack aircraft, as part of ongoing efforts to disrupt and degrade ISIS’s operational capabilities.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said there were no civilian casualties, and reaffirmed its commitment to tackling ISIS along with its allies.
General Michael Erik Kurilla said: "There should be no doubt – we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria. "All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way."
Joyful crowds gathered across Syria to celebrate after rebels took Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, ending his family’s 50-year reign of terror.
As statues of Assad and his father Hafez were being toppled across Syria, in Damascus a jubilant Ghazal al-Sharif was rejoicing. He said: “Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family.”
Rebel forces led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) declared Damascus “free” of Assad as government forces withdrew.
HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani pronounced: “The future is ours.”
Rania Kataf, 39, a researcher in Syrian culture in Damascus, said: “No-one slept in Syria last night... no Syrian abroad slept. The whole community was holding their phones waiting for the final news.”
Looking forward to the end of a civil war that began in 2011, she said: “Overwhelmed is not even a word that can describe this. We all feel like we have been underwater literally for 13 years and we just took a breath.
Lawyer Omar Daher, 29, said: “My feelings are indescribable. After the fear that Assad and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.”
Rebel forces led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) declared Damascus “free” of Assad ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He said his father had been killed by security forces and his brother was in detention. He said: “Assad is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog.”
Assad and his family landed in Moscow last night to be given asylum after fleeing on a military jet. Within hours of his departure, his palace was being ransacked. Videos online showed people taking the president and his British-born wife Asma al-Assad’s possessions.
Bed linen was strewn across the floor, and one person could be seen holding a Louis Vuitton box as they passed another looter on the stairs carrying a bag stuffed full of items.
A man kisses a Syrian rebel fighter who returned to the central city of Homs ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)
In the central square of Damascus, people climbed on tanks and cheered as they trampled on a toppled statue of Assad’s father, Hafez. As the rebels took over cities across Syria, they freed inmates of prisons where human rights groups estimate at least 100,000 people have been held since the civil war began in 2011.
This included the Sednaya military jail, a facility dubbed the “human slaughterhouse” because of the killings and torture carried out there.
Syrian Kurds celebrate next to the destroyed statue of late President Hafez al-Assad, father of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)
HTS have been planning to overthrow Assad for years. In the past decade, they have severed links to terror organisations Islamic State and al-Qaeda, rebranding in 2016 as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant.
The rebel coalition yesterday said it was working on the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with full executive powers. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the rebels and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
Keir Starmer welcomed the fall of the Assad regime, but called for “peace and stability” in Syria. He said: “The Syrian people have suffered under Assad’s barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure.”
An armed woman flashes the V for victory sign as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)
US President-elect Donald Trump posted: “Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place.
“They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “historic day” for the Middle East. He said the collapse of the Assad regime offered “great opportunity”, but was also “fraught with significant dangers”.
He said: “This collapse is the direct result of our forceful action against Hezbollah and Iran, Assad’s main supporters. It set off a chain reaction of all those who want to free themselves from this tyranny and its oppression.”
Syria’s White Helmets civil defence forces released a statement, saying: “The sun of freedom rises on the Syrians... the moment that has been long awaited for years.” At the Turkish-Syrian border, around 50 men were waiting to return to their home country.
Abdo Ghrebi, 27, left Syria in 2017 and was trying to return. He said: “We are peaceful people. We never liked any war or violence, we only wanted peace, unlike the regime. We lost a lot of martyrs, but we’re now getting our dignity and freedom back and will have a better future. Our losses were not in vain.”
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