The long rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is over after rebels swept into the capital Damascus.
The fighters declared the city “liberated” in a statement carried on state television. Syrians have been celebrating in the streets.
Russia, one of Assad’s main allies, says he has left Syria and gave instructions “to transfer power peacefully.” His exact whereabouts are unknown.
The removal of Assad brings an end to more than 50 years of his family’s autocratic rule of the nation of about 23 million, which has been fractured by more than a decade of civil war.
