Syrians are celebrating the end of the Assad family’s half-century rule after the president fled the country

Crowds gathered in Damascus on Sunday to celebrate with songs, prayers and occasional gunfire after a surprise attack by opposition forces. the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule but it raised questions about the future of the country and the wider region.

President Bashar Assad and other officials left Syria, where they are unknown, after resigning and holding talks with rebels, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

In a letter on the Telegram messaging system on Sunday, the minister said Assad had left Syria after talks with opposition forces and gave “instructions” for a peaceful transfer of power.

“Russia did not take part in these negotiations,” the ministry said, adding that it was following the “striking events” in Syria with “great concern.”

The White House told CBS News it did not know where Assad was.

It was the first time opposition forces has reached Damascus since 2018 when the Syrian army recaptured the outskirts of the capital following a years-long siege.

Videos from Damascus showed families streaming into the presidential palace, some carrying stacks of plates and other household items.

“I did not sleep last night, I refused to sleep until I heard the news of his fall,” said Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works in the electricity sector. “From Idlib to Damascus, it took them (the opposition forces) just a few days, we thank God. May God bless them, the lions are warriors who made us proud.”

The rapidly developing events shook the region. Lebanon has said it is closing its border crossings with Syria except for the one connecting Beirut and Damascus. Jordan also closed the border crossing with Syria.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida commander who severed ties with the group years ago and says he supports racism and religious tolerance, leads the largest rebel group and is poised to dictate the country’s future.

The rebels now face the difficult task of bridging the bitter divide in a country ravaged by war and still divided between armed groups. Turkish-backed opposition forces are fighting US-allied Kurdish forces in the north, while the Islamic State group is still active in remote areas.

Syrian state television broadcast a video statement early Sunday morning by a rebel group saying that Assad had been deposed and all prisoners had been freed. The man who read the statement called on the rebels and civilians to preserve the institutions of the “free Syrian state.”

Reactions from around the world

Iran, which had been a major supporter of the ousted Assad government, says the Syrian people should decide on the future of their country “without harm, coercion, foreign intervention.”

The statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday was the first official action in the country on the overthrow of the Assad regime by the rebels.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure “an orderly political transition.”

The Gulf state of Qatar, a key regional mediator, held an emergency meeting of foreign ministers and senior officials from eight countries with an interest in Syria late Saturday. Participants include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.

“President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the unusual events in Syria and are in constant contact with regional partners,” said White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett on social media.

The French Foreign Ministry said France “welcomes” the fall of the Assad government “after more than 13 years of violent repression against its people.”

The ministry said in a statement: “The people of Syria have suffered greatly. Bashar Assad bled the country dry, displaced a large part of its people who, if not forced into exile, were brutally killed, tortured and bombed with chemical weapons. The regime and its allies.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her understanding of the relief the Syrian people felt after the fall of the Assad government but warned that “the country must not now fall into the hands of other violent people.”

“Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed in the civil war, millions have fled,” Baerbock said in a statement from his office on Sunday. “Assad killed, tortured and used poison gas on his own people. He must finally answer for this.”

The war in Syria began in 2011 when a democratic uprising to end Assad’s long rule quickly escalated into a brutal civil war. Since then, the conflict has killed more than 500,000 people and driven an estimated 12 million from their homes.