Israeli tanks enter Syria after Assad’s ouster
Israel has pushed tanks over the border into the buffer zone with Syria after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted earlier on Sunday after rebel forces captured the capital Damasus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he has ordered the military to “seize” a UN-patrolled buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied and Syrian-controlled Golan Heights.
He said a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria “has collapsed”, so he “directed the [military] yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions nearby.”
Earlier the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Assad had left office and departed the country after being ousted by Syrian rebels, who ended the 50-year Assad dynasty in a lightning offensive that has raised fears of a new wave of instability in the Middle East.
In a statement, the ministry said that Assad had ordered a peaceful handover but did not say where he was now. The ministry denied Russia’s role in talks about his departure and added that Russian military bases in Syria were at a state of high alert, although there was no serious threat to them at the current time.
Syria’s army command notified officers that Assad’s regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.
But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the towns of Hama and Homs and Deraa countryside.
Dozens of Syrians entered Assad’s luxurious Damascus home after it was looted on Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, following the fall of the capital to rebel forces.
Women, children and men could be seen inspecting the six-storey home and its large garden, with the entrance to the residence burnt down and the rooms completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad thrown on the floor.
Assad, who had crushed all forms of dissent, flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination earlier on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” the rebels said, referring to a large military prison on the outskirts of Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.
Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom” from a half-century of Assad family rule, witnesses said.
The dramatic collapse also marks a seismic moment for the Middle East, dealing a massive blow to Russia and Iran, which have lost a key ally at the heart of the region and creating more uncertainty as the Gaza offensive rages.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
It marks a turning point for Syria, shattered by more than 13 years of war which has turned cities to rubble, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and forced millions abroad as refugees.
Stabilising western areas of Syria captured in the rebels’ advance will be key. Western governments, which have shunned the Assad-led state for years, must decide how to deal with a new administration in which a globally designated terrorist group — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — looks set to have influence.
HTS, which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria, was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016.
“The real question is how orderly will this transition be, and it seems quite clear that Golani is very eager for it to be an orderly one,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Golani will not want a repeat of the chaos that swept Iraq after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. “They are going to have to rebuild … they will need Europe and the US to lift sanctions,” Landis said.
HTS is Syria’s strongest rebel group and some Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian religious rule or instigate reprisals.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed in a plane crash as it was a mystery why the plane took a surprise U-turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the Flightradar website.