People walks through the halls of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Roaming the opulent Damascus home of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Abu Omar felt a sense of giddy defiance being in the residence of the man he said had long oppressed him.

“I am taking pictures, because I am so happy to be here in the middle of his house,” said the 44-year-old, showing photographs he took on his mobile phone.

He was among the dozens an AFP correspondent saw entering Assad’s home after Assad fled the country — to Moscow according to Russian news agencies — as rebels took control of the capital in an 11-day lightning offensive.

The swift campaign by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies ended more than five decades of brutal rule by the Assad family.

“I came for revenge. They oppressed us in incredible ways,” Abu Omar added from the compound of three six-storey buildings in the upscale al-Maliki neighbourhood.

Jubilant men, women, and children wandered the home and its sprawling garden in a daze, the rooms stripped bare except for some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor.

Residents in the Syrian capital were seen cheering in the streets, as the rebel factions heralded the departure of “tyrant” Assad.

The government fell more than 13 years after Assad’s crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria’s civil war, which has drawn in foreign powers, jihadists and claimed more than half a million lives.

Luxurious palace while Syria reels under power outages

On Sunday, video circulating online showed crowds peeking into the bedrooms in the Assad residence, which was previously off limits to ordinary citizens.

They could be seen snatching clothes, plates and whatever belongings they could find including a Louis Vuitton cardboard shopping bag.

In one video, a man could be heard yelling that everything was on “Sale! Sale!”.

Umm Nader, 35, came with her husband from a nearby district to tour the residence that once inspired fear and awe, and which one visitor now described as a “museum”.

“I came to see this place that we were banned from, because they wanted us to live in poverty and deprivation,” she told AFP.

Nader said the former inhabitants of the residence had left without cutting off the heating and electricity, “meanwhile our children are getting sick from the cold.”

Daily power outages that last for hours have been a fact of life in Syria, reeling from successive economic crises after more than a decade of war and Western sanctions.

Most of the population has been pushed into poverty, according to the United Nations.

An AFP correspondent also saw a charred reception hall at the Damascus presidential palace a couple kilometres away.

As he moved from room to room, Abu Omar said he felt overjoyed.

“I no longer feel afraid. My only concern is that we unite (as Syrians) and build this country together,” he said, full of emotion

Members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a flag in Deir al-Zor, after U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir el-Zor, the government’s main foothold in the vast desert, according to Syrian sources, in Syria December 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least 26 combattants were killed on Sunday (December 8, 2024) as Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on the northern Manbij area, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave.

The pro-Turkey fighters had already retaken the Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat enclave last week, days after Islamist-led rebels swooped into government-held areas, snatching key cities before reaching Damascus on Sunday.

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“Pro-Turkish factions… seized large districts of Manbij city in the eastern Aleppo countryside, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

The Council is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that act as a de facto army for the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of Syria’s northeast.

“The clashes killed nine pro-Turkish fighters and at least 17 Manbij Military Council” combattants, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The US-backed SDF also reported “fierce clashes”, saying the military councils in Manbij and in Al-Bab were “dealing qualitative blows” to Turkish-backed fighters.

The Ankara-backed factions said they had “taken control of the city of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo after fierce battles”, in a statement on their Telegram channel.

The groups posted videos of the fighters declaring control over Manbij, said to be from inside the area.

AFP could not independently verify the videos.

Earlier Sunday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi hailed “historic” moments with the fall of the “authoritarian regime” of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian opposition fighters drive past a burning government armoured vehicle south of Hama, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A Syrian opposition war monitor and a pro-government media outlet say government forces have withdrawn from much of the central city of Homs.

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The pro-government Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it.

Major blow for Syria’s Bashar Assad

Losing Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Syria’s embattled leader, Bashar Assad. The city stands at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

Its capture is a major victory for insurgents, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said Homs falling into rebel hands would be a game-changer.

Insurgents’ stunning march across Syria gained speed on Saturday with news that they had reached the suburbs of the capital and with the government forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.

Syrian rebels in Damascus

The rebels’ moves around Damascus, reported by an opposition war monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.

The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad’s government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.