Opposition fighters reportedly drive Syrian leader from the country. Who are they and what now?

Associated Press

Syria’s government appears to have fallen after opposition fighters said they entered Damascus following a stunning advance.

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

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

A Syrian opposition war monitor, Rami Abdurrahman, said Assad left the country on a flight from Damascus early Sunday. Jalili did not address reports of Assad’s departure.

Opposition fighters entered Syria’s capital in a swiftly developing crisis that has taken much of the world by surprise. Syria’s army has abandoned key cities with little resistance. Who are these opposition fighters? If they take control of Damascus after seizing some of Syria’s largest cities, what then?

Here is a look at the stunning reversal of fortune for Assad and the government in just the past 10 days, and what might lie ahead as Syria’s 13-year civil war reignites.

The aim? Overthrow the government

This is the first time that opposition forces have reached the outskirts of the Syrian capital since 2018, when the country’s troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege.

The approaching fighters are led by the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Both have been entrenched in the northwest. They launched the shock offensive on Nov. 27 with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.

The HTS has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. But the group said in recent years it cut ties with al-Qaida, and experts say HTS has sought to remake itself in recent years by focusing on promoting civilian government in their territory as well as military action.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani told CNN in an exclusive interview Thursday from Syria that the aim of the offensive is to overthrow Assad’s government.

Possible rifts ahead

The HTS and Syrian National Army have been allies at times and rivals at times, and their aims might diverge.

The Turkish-backed militias also have an interest in creating a buffer zone near the Turkish border to keep away Kurdish militants at odds with Ankara. Turkey has been a main backer of the fighters seeking to overthrow Assad but more recently has urged reconciliation, and Turkish officials have strongly rejected claims of any involvement in the current offensive.

Whether the HTS and the Syrian National Army will work together if they succeed in overthrowing Assad or turn on each other again is a major question.

Others take advantage

While the flash offensive against Syria’s government began in the north, armed opposition groups have also mobilized elsewhere.

The southern areas of Sweida and Daraa have both been taken locally. Sweida is the heartland of Syria’s Druze religious minority and had been the site of regular anti-government protests even after Assad seemingly consolidated his control over the area.

Daraa is a Sunni Muslim area that was widely seen as the cradle of the uprising against Assad’s rule that erupted in 2011. Daraa was recaptured by Syrian government troops in 2018, but rebels remained in some areas. In recent years, Daraa was in a state of uneasy quiet under a Russian-mediated ceasefire deal.

And much of Syria’s east is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group backed by the United States that in the past has clashed with most other armed groups in the country.

Syria’s government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus.

What’s next?

A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have started carrying out the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.

And Syrian troops withdrew Saturday from much of the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, according to a pro-government outlet and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. If that city is captured, the link would be cut between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where he enjoys wide support.

“Homs to the coastal cities will be a very huge red line politically and socially. Politically, if this line is crossed, then we are talking about the end of the entire Syria, the one that we knew in the past,” said a Damascus resident, Anas Joudeh.

Assad appears to be largely on his own as allies Russia and Iran are distracted by other conflicts and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah has been weakened by its war with Israel, now under a fragile ceasefire.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition,” saying the situation is changing by the minute. He met with foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran on the sidelines of the Doha Summit.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.