Syrian rebels took to the airwaves on state Syrian TV on Sunday morning local time to announce they had ousted President Bashar al-Assad, after their shock seizure of the country’s capital of Damascus.
Footage circulating on social media channels shows the rebels taking control of the state TV building and entering the control gallery to ready the broadcast.
A group of nine men in casual clothes made an on-air statement saying they had toppled the “oppressive” al-Assad, and also freed prisoners being held in his regime’s notorious Sednaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus.
Assad is reported to have flown out of the country to an unknown destination in the early hours of Sunday. The president’s flight ends his family’s 54-year stranglehold on the country which began when his father Hafez al-Assad seized power in a bloodless coup in November 1970.
The rebels’ ousting of Assad is the latest chapter in a bloody civil conflict, which began in 2011 with peaceful pro-democracy protests in the wake of the Arab spring in Tunisia and Egypt, but descended into deadly fighting between rebels and the army, which remained loyal to the president.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, just over 500,000 people had been killed in the conflict, split between some 343,000 military personnel and 164,00 civilians.
More than 14 million Syrians were forced to flee their homes, with 7.2 million people displaced internally and another 5.5 million heading to neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Refugees also headed to Europe, with Germany currently home to more than 850,000 people who fled Syria.
Countless members of the country’s film and TV community were among those forced to flee for their safety, when they found themselves on the wrong side of Assad.
They included outgoing International Documentary Festival Amsterdam head and producer Orwa Nyrabia (The Return To Homs) and Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad (Last Men In Aleppo, The Cave), who were both imprisoned by the regime for a time, as well as Oscar-nominated filmmaker Talal Derki (The Return to Homs, Of Father and Sons), Ossama Mohammed (Silvered Water, Syrian Self Portrait) and Soudade Kaadan (Nezouh).
Leaders around the world are following the fast evolving situation. President Biden said he was “closely monitoring” the events in Syria and was “in constant touch with regional partners.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the offensive, taking the cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Damascus in a matter of days, has Islamist roots and was once affiliated with al Qaeda under the name of Nusra Front.
However, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has presented a more moderate stance in recent months, saying the HTS fight is for all Syrians.
For now, it is unclear how the latest development will play out and whether there can be a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.
The rebels appearing on state TV on Sunday reiterated al-Golani’s recent stance in their broadcast, calling on citizens to protect all state properties and saying their vision for Syria was “ for all Syrians across all segments of society.”
