American and British newspapers highlight the collapse of Assad’s rule

American and British newspapers highlighted the collapse of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after armed opposition factions led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham took control of the capital, Damascus, on Sunday morning.
Newspapers monitored Syrians’ celebrations of the Assad family’s departure from power after 50 years, leaving a country shattered and divided by a 13-year civil war.

New York Times: A stunning victory

The American newspaper “The New York Times” reported that after only a few days of rapid advance, fighters from the armed opposition factions stormed the Syrian capital, on Sunday, putting them on the verge of achieving a stunning victory at a time when evidence increased that the Syrian forces and their leader, President Bashar al-Assad, had fled. .

The newspaper said, in just two weeks, the bitter stalemate that had lasted for years in Syria was broken, as an alliance of armed opposition factions that were besieged in a small corner of the northwest of the country was able to control major cities.
The newspaper added that many Syrians’ celebrations of the advance of armed opposition faction fighters to Damascus on Sunday morning were mixed with remembering everything they lost during 13 years of civil war, their loved ones who were killed, tortured, or disappeared in the Syrian regime’s complex prisons, and the homes they lost due to air strikes and bombing. And the life they had to give up.

Washington Post: A dark chapter in Syria is over

The Washington Post reported that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapsed on Sunday morning, after the armed group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham entered the capital, Damascus.
The newspaper said that some Damascus residents chanted, raised their fists in the air, and waved weapons in apparent celebration of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s announcement that its forces had entered the capital.
The newspaper quoted the leader of the organization, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, on the Syrian Public Broadcasting Corporation, saying that people are “tired of Assad’s rule for 50 years,” and he warned the fighters against attacking state facilities, which he said would remain under the supervision of the prime minister “until they are officially handed over.”
The newspaper also quoted Geir Pedersen, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, as saying that a “dark chapter” in Syria ended with the advance of fighters from armed opposition factions to Damascus and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“Today marks a watershed moment in the history of Syria – a country that has endured nearly 14 years of sustained suffering and unspeakable loss,” Pedersen said in a statement.

Wall Street Journal: Fear of a power vacuum

The Wall Street Journal said that fighters from the armed opposition factions took control of the capital, Damascus, after a week of stunning military progress against the forces of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who fled in the early hours of Sunday morning to an unknown destination.
The newspaper raised fears of a power vacuum in Syria, saying that the “dictatorship” of the Assad family, which ruled Syria for more than 50 years, collapsed on Sunday, as fighters from the armed opposition factions announced control of Damascus, but fear of what is coming is the struggle for power in Syria.

Financial Times: Assad left a shattered country

The British newspaper “Financial Times” reported that armed opposition faction fighters took control of Damascus on Sunday, with the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the face of the attack launched by the factions across the country.
The newspaper quoted the factions in a statement: “The city of Damascus has become free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” and that “Assad fled” after various factions besieged the capital from the north and south.
The newspaper published a video sent to it by a resident of Damascus, showing people inside the presidential palace wandering around the rooms and destroying pictures of the Assad family.
The newspaper pointed out that a man in civilian clothes appeared on Syrian state television on Sunday morning to announce that the rebels had “liberated” Damascus and released detainees from “the regime’s prisons,” and called on the fighters to “protect the property of the free Syrian state.”
The newspaper quoted residents in Damascus as saying that celebratory gunfire occurred in the air, while clouds of smoke covered the sky of the capital.
The Financial Times said that while the fall of the Assad regime sparked celebrations across Syria, it will also herald a period of enormous uncertainty for a shattered and divided nation after 13 years of civil war, and for the region more broadly, noting that Syria shares borders. With Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, armed factions have clashed with each other in the past.

The Guardian: Celebrations in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs

The British newspaper “The Guardian” monitored Syrian celebrations in Umayyad Square in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs, as fighters from armed opposition factions entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after 25 years of rule.
The newspaper published pictures of fighters from the armed opposition factions displaying members of the Syrian government forces detained in Homs.

The Telegraph: The tyrant has fallen and worse is coming

The British newspaper “The Telegraph” stated in a report entitled “The tyrant Assad has fallen – and some fear that what is to come will be worse” that the revolution that lasted 13 years against Bashar al-Assad’s regime may have ended with its collapse, but the civil war in Syria may not end.
She indicated that the armed opposition factions that participated in overthrowing the Assad regime forever will seek to secure a place for themselves in the new Syria, and that their weapons are still there if they do not get what they want.

The Independent: A stunning end to the Assad family’s rule

The British newspaper The Independent said that Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria collapsed, leading to a stunning end to his family’s 50-year rule following a lightning attack by armed opposition factions.
She added that a plane carrying Assad left Damascus on Sunday morning as opposition fighters entered the capital, and two officials told Reuters that he had fled the country.
The newspaper reported what Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Ghazi Jalali said, saying that he would meet with the rebels, adding that the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its duties to a transitional government.
She pointed to widespread celebrations in the capital, Damascus, where thousands gathered on foot in the main square of the capital and chanted “Freedom.”

The Times: American fears of ISIS activity

The British newspaper “The Times” quoted the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Affairs, Daniel Shapiro, as saying that the apparent fall of the Assad regime may give the terrorist organization ISIS “space to find the ability to operate.”
“We recognize that the chaotic and dynamic conditions on the ground in Syria could give ISIS space to find the capacity to operate and plan external operations,” Shapiro said at the Manama Security Dialogue conference in Bahrain.
The diplomat went on to explain how the continued US presence in the country was “solely to ensure the permanent defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict.”

The newspaper also pointed out that Assad’s forces maintained limited stocks of chemical weapons, including sarin gas, and that the United States is closely monitoring chemical weapons storage sites for any attempts by Assad’s loyalists to use them against armed opposition factions.
According to a New York Times report, US officials expected the regime to try to use remaining stockpiles in a last-ditch effort to maintain its grip on power.