Damascus: Crowds have gathered in Syria’s Damascus on Sunday to celebrate the fall of Bashar Assad’s government with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after opposition fighters entered the capital following a stunning advance.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian Opposition war monitor, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government and Assad's whereabouts remain unknown.

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

The night before, Opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it.

The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too.

Agencies