Aerial footage showed long lines of vehicles forming on roads leading to and from Damascus late Sunday after the Syrian capital was liberated from regime forces, Anadolu Agency reported.
Syrians who had been waiting for years for the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime headed toward the capital, which was liberated by Syrian opposition fighters on Sunday.
The liberation of Damascus and other cities in Syria was celebrated across the country, the region, and the world.
Many Syrians have begun returning to their homeland from neighboring Lebanon.
Syria has been the scene of a civil war for 13 years, and after a period of relative calm, clashes between Assad regime forces and anti-regime groups erupted again on November 27 in rural areas west of Aleppo.
Opposition forces then launched a lightning offensive and captured key cities within ten days, culminating in the capture of the capital Damascus this morning.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Assad had made his own decision to step down and leave Syria. It was later reported that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow, having been granted asylum by Russia.
Photo: Anadolu Agency