The Syrian government crumbled early on Sunday, marking an abrupt end to the Assad family’s 50-year grip on power after rebel forces stormed across government-controlled regions and descended upon the capital in just 10 days.

Syrian state TV broadcasted a statement by a group asserting that President Bashar Assad has been toppled and proclaimed the release of all detainees from prisons.

Ahead of the fall of Damascus to the rebels, President Bashar al Assad fled on a plane for an unknown destination, reports suggest.

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A representative from one of the rebel groups stated in the video that the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, a faction within the opposition, urged all rebel fighters and citizens to safeguard the infrastructure of what they termed “the free Syrian state.”

This announcement came shortly following claims by the director of a Syrian opposition war monitor that Assad had fled the nation, escaping to an unidentified location as insurgents neared Damascus, boasting of their surprising rapid territorial gains.

In a prepared response, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali confirmed the fallen government’s openness to reaching out to the opposition for a peaceful transition of power to a provisional authority.

“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalali asserted in a recorded video message. He pledged to report to duty in the morning and implored Syrians to respect public assets.

He avoided commenting on the whereabouts or actions of Assad.

Rami Abdurrahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Assad boarded a flight on Sunday away from Damascus.

Iranian state television, a key supporter of Assad during the Syrian conflict, reported that Assad had left the capital. The report cited Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network as its source and provided no further details.

The Syrian government has yet to issue an official statement.

As dawn broke over Damascus, crowds flocked to the city’s mosques for prayers and filled the squares in celebration, chanting “God is great.”

Anti-Assad slogans echoed through the streets, accompanied by the sound of car horns. In some neighborhoods, the sound of celebratory gunfire could be heard.

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Military personnel and police officers abandoned their posts, while looters targeted the Ministry of Defense headquarters.

“My feelings are indescribable,” shared Omar Daher, a 29 year old lawyer. “After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.”

Daher revealed that his father was killed by security forces and his brother’s fate remains unknown in detention. He described Assad as “a criminal, a tyrant and a dog.”

“Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” declared Ghazal al-Sharif, another celebrator in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God, we saw it.”

The police headquarters in the capital seemed to be deserted, with its door left open and no officers in sight. Opposition-linked media broadcasted footage of a tank in one of the city’s central squares.

This marks the first time opposition forces have reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops reclaimed areas on the outskirts of the capital after a prolonged siege.

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

The insurgents also declared they had infiltrated the infamous Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “liberated” their prisoners there.

The previous night, opposition forces seized control of Homs, Syria’s third largest city, as government forces abandoned it. The city is strategically located between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the base of support for the Syrian leader and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

The rebels had already taken over the cities of Aleppo and Hama, along with large parts of the south, in a swift offensive that began on Nov. 27.

Analysts believe that rebel control of Homs could be a game-changer.

The rebels’ advancement into Damascus followed the Syrian army’s withdrawal from a significant portion of the southern part of the country. This left more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.

The progress made in the past week is considered the most substantial in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group with roots in al-Qaida and recognized as a terrorist organization by the US and the United Nations. The insurgents, spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, encountered minimal resistance from the Syrian army in their bid to overthrow Assad’s government.

Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, called for urgent discussions in Geneva on Saturday to ensure an “orderly political transition.”

Speaking at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he noted that the situation in Syria was evolving rapidly. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a key international supporter of Assad, expressed his sympathy for the Syrian people.

In Damascus, residents hurried to gather supplies. Thousands headed towards Syria’s border with Lebanon, attempting to exit the country.

Lebanese border officials shut down the main Masnaa border crossing late on Saturday, leaving many stranded.

The United Nations has announced that it is relocating noncritical staff from the country as a precautionary measure. Contrary to social media rumors, Syria’s state media has denied that President Assad has left the country, stating that he continues to perform his duties in Damascus.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali admitted on Sunday that he is unaware of the whereabouts of Assad or the defense minister, revealing to Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that communication was lost on Saturday night.

Assad appears to have received minimal support from his allies. Russia is currently preoccupied with its war in Ukraine, while Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which previously sent thousands of fighters to bolster Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a year-long conflict with Israel.

Iran’s proxies across the region have been undermined by regular Israeli airstrikes. On Saturday, US President-elect Donald Trump expressed on social media that the United States should avoid military engagement in Syria. In a separate statement, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser stated that the Biden administration has no plans to intervene in Syria.

Pedersen announced that a date for talks in Geneva regarding the implementation of a UN resolution adopted in 2015 will be revealed later. The resolution calls for a Syrian-led political process, the establishment of a transitional governing body, the drafting of a new constitution, and concludes with UN supervised elections.

On Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight influential countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, convened on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to deliberate over the Syrian crisis. They released a statement expressing their unanimous support for a political resolution that would halt military actions and safeguard civilians.