A rapid advance by Syrian rebel groups on the country’s capital has led to the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s control over a country his family had ruled for half a century.

In the streets of Damascus, crowds celebrated the seismic political change overnight and into Sunday, as Syrian state television broadcast a statement from a group of rebels, one wearing a black hoodie, announcing that all Syrian prisoners and Assad had been released who were released from prison were deposed.

The man who read this statement on television just hours after the city fell had joined the calls of the leading group in this lightning-fast rebel offensive, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and demanded that citizens and fighters alike ensure that the national institutions of the country would be protected. He ended his statement with a statement after more than 13 years of bloody civil war: “Long live a free Syria.”

Another separate video showed the country’s prime minister, Ghazi al-Jalali, being escorted from his home by armed rebels to hand over formal power to a committee of various rebel groups known as the Syrian Military Task Force.

Assad’s fall came less than two weeks after an initial incursion west of the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, triggered a series of escape and retreat routes for the demoralized Syrian military.

The Britain-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad had left the country for an unknown destination.

Hours later, Russia, which had long supported the Assad regime with its military against widespread opposition forces, also announced that the ousted president had left the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not say where he went.

“As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to resign from the presidency and leave the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.” Das explained that Foreign Ministry in a statement. “Russia did not take part in these negotiations,” it said.

Questions about what comes next

The United Nations, the United States and other governments around the world have recognized this weekend’s events as a hugely significant turning point and called on the UN to invite the rebels to talks that can lead to a more inclusive government for the country.

The United Nations’ senior envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said more than a decade of brutal civil war has left deep scars in Syria, but now is the time for all parties to prioritize dialogue and it will begin with ” look to the future with cautious hope. for the new developments in the country.

Efforts by the United Nations and others to build a successful transitional government are complicated by the fact that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that led this offensive to topple al-Assad, is still designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organization is classified. USA and others. However, the group’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has tried to present a far more moderate face in recent months, analysts have said said NPR.

While Germany’s top diplomat described al-Assad’s fall as a “great relief” for the Syrian people, she also warned against radicalization, especially given HTS’s expected leading role in any future government.

“The country must not now fall into the hands of other radicals,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, “in whatever form.”

Iran, which along with Russia played a leading role in supporting al-Assad’s rule for many years, made unverifiable claims that rebels had attacked its embassy in Damascus on Sunday, broadcasting footage from a television channel that said seemed to show a diplomatic terrain. However, according to an online post by the Iranian newspaper, diplomats had reportedly left the embassy before the attack The Tehran Timesin which the country’s foreign ministry was quoted.

Russia has long maintained an air base and a naval repair center in Syria, but the Russian embassy in Damascus has said its personnel are doing well and those bases appear to be intact. Still, a senior foreign policy expert in the upper house of Russia’s parliament said Assad’s departure would mean difficult times for Syria, a country known for its patchwork mosaic of ethnicities, religions and political affiliations.

“Syria is a very difficult story, for everyone without exception,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of the Russian Senate. “Either way, the civil war will not end today, there are too many conflicting interests and too many opposing forces.”

“The situation developed very quickly,” said Phillippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “It’s like a house of cards collapsing.” At a political forum in Qatar, he told NPR that his organization’s camps in Syria housed around 400,000 people but had remained largely quiet and some services remained operational. He said he hoped the transition process would allow schools in the camps to reopen.

Israel increases security as Lebanon opens border crossings

Meanwhile, authorities in neighboring Israel are stepping up security measures in the Golan Heights, the border region that Israel largely captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

The Israeli military said it helped U.N. peacekeepers stationed in the region repel several gunmen over the weekend, but would not interfere in Syria’s internal events and would only keep certain areas of the Golan Heights closed to act as a buffer zone for security reasons .

At another Syrian border – with Lebanon – through which at least a million Syrians have fled as refugees since the start of the civil war in their country, the Lebanese authorities have instead opened the border crossing in anticipation of a reverse flow of refugees returning to their homeland after years wants to leave.

In recent weeks, Israeli airstrikes have damaged several border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, through which the armed group Hezbollah has often tried to smuggle weapons that ultimately come from Iran, according to the Israeli military.

The Lebanese army, still working to redeploy troops to the southern border with Israel under a recent ceasefire deal, has said it is also sending more units to the northern and eastern borders with Syria in light of recent events.

Hadeel al-Shalchi, Emily Feng, Michele Kelemen and Aya Batrawy contributed to this report