BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday, bringing a surprise end to the Assad family’s 50-year rule after a lightning rebel offensive.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar Assad had left the country for an unknown location, fleeing insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a remarkably rapid advance through the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to an interim government.

“I am in my house and I have not left it, and that is because I belong to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office in the morning to continue his work and urged Syrian citizens not to deface public property.

He did not address reports that Assad had left the country.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus on Sunday.

Iranian state television, Assad’s main supporter during the war years in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. Qatari news channel Al Jazeera was quoted as providing the information without elaborating.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road on the edge of the capital and hearing gunfire. The city’s main police headquarters appeared to be deserted, with the door open and no officers outside. Another AP journalist captured footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms lay on the ground beneath a poster with Assad’s face.

Residents of the capital reported hearing gunshots and explosions. Footage broadcast on opposition-affiliated media showed a tank in one of the capital’s central squares as a small group of people gathered to celebrate. Cries of “God is great” rang out from mosques.

It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital after a years-long siege.

Pro-government radio station Sham FM reported that Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights had been suspended.

The insurgents also announced that they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “freed” their prisoners there.

The night before, opposition forces had captured the central city of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, after government troops abandoned it. The city lies at a key junction between the capital Damascus and the Syrian coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the base of the Syrian leader and the site of a strategic Russian naval base.

The rebels had already captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama as well as large parts of the south in a lightning offensive that began on November 27th. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.

The rebels’ entry into Damascus came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the country’s south and other areas, including several provincial capitals, remained under the control of opposition fighters.

After the fall of Damascus, government troops would only have control over two of the 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.

Last week’s advances were by far the largest in years by opposition factions led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. In their push to topple Assad’s government, the insurgents led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) faced little resistance from the Syrian army.

The rebels’ rapid victories, coupled with a lack of support from Assad’s former allies, posed the greatest threat to his rule since the war began.

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called on Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s main international backer, said he felt “compassion for the Syrian people.”

In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria’s border with Lebanon and tried to leave the country. Lebanese border officials closed the main Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many people waiting.

Many shops in the capital were closed, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open were running out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items for three times the normal price.

The United Nations said it was moving non-critical personnel out of the country as a precaution.

Assad’s status

Syrian state media denied social media rumors that Assad had left the country, saying he was carrying out his duties in Damascus.

He received little to no help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which once sent thousands of fighters to support Assad’s forces, has been weakened by years of conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes.

US President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media on Saturday that the United States should avoid military involvement in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.

Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on implementing a 2015 U.N. resolution calling for a Syrian-led political process would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of an interim governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and finally elections supervised by the United Nations.

Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, met with Pederson on the sidelines of the Doha summit to discuss the situation in Syria.

In a statement, participants reiterated their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to an end to military activities and protect civilians.”

The march of the insurgents

An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun the “final phase” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.

HTS controls much of northwest Syria and established a “salvation government” in 2017 to manage day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to reshape the group’s image by cutting ties with al-Qaeda, abandoning hardline officials and embracing pluralism and religious tolerance.

The shock offensive began on November 27th. Gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the country’s fourth largest city.

The Syrian government has described armed opposition members as terrorists since the conflict broke out in March 2011.

Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad has not taken advantage of this opportunity to engage with his people and restore relations with them,” he said.

____

Karam reported from London. Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar; and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.