Syrian rebelswhich is just 11 days they launched an offensive against the Syrian governmentthey announced their entry to Damascus early this Sunday morning and declared the city “free” from Bashar al-Assad amid reports that the president has left the country on a “special” plane, the destination of which is unknown.

The operational command of the coalition of Islamist and pro-Turkish factions leading the rebel offensive sent a statement saying Damascus is “free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the president abandoned the city’s airport on a “special” plane.

Additionally, the UK-based NGO and its significant network of staff on the ground indicated that “regime security personnel left Damascus International Airport after the takeoff of a private jet that was likely transporting Bashar to Assad.”

There are currently no reports from a government loyal to Assad.

“This is the moment that displaced people and prisoners have long awaited, a moment of returning home and a moment of freedom after decades of oppression and suffering,” the Islamist alliance added.

At the same time, sources EFE in Damascus reported capture of the main building of Syrian radio and television armed men, unknown, who ordered them to leave the premises.

Meanwhile, thousands of people gather in the Plaza de los Omeyas, one of the nerve centers of the city, where, in addition to television, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense and the Army are located.

Islamists seized Saidnaya military prison and released prisoners

The Islamists also confirmed the seizure of the Saydnaya military prison, located about 30 kilometers north of Syria and one of the centers of repression by the Bashar al-Assad regime, and the release of its prisoners.

Hours earlier, rebels led by the Levant Liberation Organization (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, in Arabic), the successor to al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, announced the complete capture of the city of Homs, about 160 kilometers to the north. Damascus – an extreme that was denied at that time by the army loyal to Damascus.

However, the chain Al Jazeera reported celebrations on the streets of Homs, where hundreds of people gathered at the symbolic “clock ring” in the city center, demanding the overthrow of the Syrian president.

The site, filled with symbolism, was the site of a massacre in April 2011 at the start of the conflict, when security forces shot and killed at least 18 protesters.

The rebel offensive began on November 27 and within days destroyed the government’s defenses in Damascus, taking first Aleppo, the country’s second city, and then Hama.

Over the past two days, as HTS troops attacked Homs north of Damascus, three provincial capitals in the south of the country have rebelled and remained in the hands of local rebel factions amid claims of a “withdrawal” of official military forces. . (EFE)