CNN
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A red, white, black and green flag flies at the historic Umayyad Mosque in the heart of Damascus.

On the other side of the Syrian capital, the palace of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is burning.

A presenter reads the Sunday news: “We from the Syrian news channel announce to you the victory of the great Syrian revolution after 13 years of patience and sacrifice.”

And hundreds of people are cheering in the streets, celebrating the breathtaking overthrow of the Assad family’s 50-year dictatorship.

After less than two weeks of fighting in northwestern Syria, rebel groups quickly seized control of the capital. Their presence appeared to surprise the regime and forced Assad to flee to Russia with his family.

“We are now the happiest country in the world,” one man told CNN on his way to Damascus on Sunday.

In a speech at the Umayyad Mosque on Sunday, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Syria’s largest rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), called the fall of Assad a “victory for the entire Islamic nation.”

“This is a nation that, when its rights are taken away, will continue to demand them until they are restored,” Jolani said, adding that HTS frees people imprisoned by the Assad regime.

Their rapid entry into the capital astonished the citizens and the rest of the world.

This is how the rebels rose to power:

The Syrian rebels launched a large-scale attack on Assad’s forces in western Aleppo. This was the first sign of what was to come from their offensive and marked the first conflict between the two sides in years.

At least 37 people were killed – both regime forces and allied militias – and rebels captured 13 villages, including the strategic towns of Urm al-Sughra and Anjara, as well as Base 46, the Syrian regime army’s largest base in western Aleppo, according to a statement from opposition factions at the time.

At the time, it was unclear whether the attacks meant anything more. Rebel groups said they were in response to recent artillery shelling by the Assad regime.

But it quickly became clear that this was not the case. Three days later the first city would fall.

On November 30, the rebel groups launched a lightning-fast offensive, killing dozens of government soldiers and seizing control of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.

It was the first time they had set foot there since government forces regained control in 2016. By early morning they had captured large parts of the city, as geolocated footage from CNN showed.

The Syrian army tacitly acknowledged that its forces were in retreat and said “a large number of terrorists” had forced them to “carry out a redeployment operation.” It said reinforcements were on the way and government troops were preparing for a “counter-offensive.”

The rebels continued their offensive to the city of Hama.

Hama is strategically located at a key junction in west-central Syria, providing direct supply lines between Damascus and Aleppo.

The Assad regime had held Hama for more than a decade, but on Thursday the Syrian military said it had to withdraw after rebels “entered several parts of the city.”

Videos geolocated by CNN showed rebel fighters celebrating – almost in disbelief at their progress – as they entered Hama.

“People, my country is being liberated. I swear to God, we are in the city of Hama, we are in the city of Aleppo,” one fighter cheered as he filmed himself at a landmark in Hama.

From there, the rebels turned their attention to Homs.

The opposition forces continued their advance towards Damascus and captured the town of Daraa with the help of rebel groups representing the Druze sect in the neighboring town of as-Suwayda.

The army said it would be “regrouped” following the attack, with rebels attacking forces from both the north and south.

In the southern city of Homs, hundreds of people appeared to flee on Friday evening when the rebels said they reached the city walls.