as the assad family's more than 50 year regime comes to an end. the bbc�*s barbara plett usher is in damascus as we came into the city, we saw equipment abandoned, even uniforms as soldiers took off their uniforms and joined the population. rebels appear on state tv saying they've toppled a tyrant and have released his prisoners. russia says assad has left the country and his palace is looted syria's prime minister says he will �*cooperate�* with the rebels over a transition of power and that free elections should be held. these are live pictures of the syria lebanon border as thousands try to return

to their homes in syria. hello. more than five decades of authoritarian rule by the assad family have come to an end in syria, after rebels took the capital, damascus, overnight. speaking on state television they said �*the city of damascus has been liberated... assad has been toppled'. the group hayat tahrir al—sham, who have their roots in al-qaeda, have been trying to rebrand themselves as a nationalist force. they say they've freed what they called hundreds of unjustly detained prisoners held injails in syria. the russian foreign ministry said president assad stepped down and left syria as a result of negotiations with "other participants in the armed conflict" but that russia was not involved in those negotiations and does not know where he is now. there were scenes

of celebration on the steps of the presidential palace in damascus — within its walls, people can be seen picking through rooms and corridors ransacked by rebels. many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled syria for lebanon during the long— running civil war are now attempting to return. crowds have been gathering at border crossings. analysts say the country is now at a crossroads over whether rebel leader, abu mohammad al—jolani, will opt for a path to democracy. our correspondent ba ra ba ra plett—usher has managed to reach the centre of damascus and sent this report. damascus is relatively calm. there is gunfire and the occasional explosion. when we passed through the central square we saw lots of young men shooting guns in the air, rebels and their supporters celebrating their victory of entering damascus. as we came into the city, we saw military equipment

beside the road abandoned, tanks, military vehicles, even uniforms as soldiers took off their uniforms and joined the population. here in this city you can see there are vehicles on the streets, there is traffic. the shops are closed. not that many people, so some people are quite afraid, those who supported the regime had felt protected by it. they are basically staying at home right now. others of course joyful that the regime has fallen, seeing this as a new chapter in syria's history. what that chapter is is the next question. the prime minister has put out a statement saying that he wants to work for the continuity of government, for the handover of power in a peaceful way for elections. the leader of the rebels has said that his forces should not target public institutions, those are still under the authority of the prime minister until they can be handed over officially so both of them sending out messages of reassurance, calm rather than chaos but things are uncertain and everyone is waiting to see barbara plett usher.

reaching damascus just after those rebels managed to top of the capital. a number of western countries have welcomed the collapse of basher al—assad is a regime but have cautioned them. he said no one should collapse —— should mourn the collapse. the eu's member has said that the fall is positive and long jimmy's said that the fall is positive and longjimmy�*s foreign and long jimmy's foreign minister said and longjimmy�*s foreign minister said mistress as's ashley was a great relief but one that syria must now not fall into the hands of other radical forces. fall into the hands of other radicalforces. syrians in radical forces. syrians in berlin radicalforces. syrians in berlin took to the streets to celebrate news of the fall of the assad regime. francis called for a peaceful, political transition. the

ministry of foreign affairs said now was the time for unity in syria. with the flag displayed, this is how a news anchor reacted. translation: in the name of allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. the proud people of our nation, the time has come and the sun of freedom has risen. the time has come to lift the oppression and dispel the darkness overshadowing our beloved country. we are the rightful owners and this land belongs to us. we, the syrian people of all sects, colours and walks of life, stand united, hand in hand, looking forward to a brighter tomorrow. a future where injustice and tyranny are eradicated. russia says bashar al assad has fled the country. caroline hawley looks back on his rule.

he took power in the year 2000. inheriting syria's police state from his father. the new young presidentjust 3a of from his father. the new young president just 3a of the from his father. the new young presidentjust 3a of the time, and promised reform. after his inauguration, there was a brief period of greater political openness. but the old family wave rolling soon reasserted itself. powerwas wave rolling soon reasserted itself. power was to be handed down to his brother but when he was killed in a car crash, it was killed in a car crash, it was the quieter, somewhat awkward but shaka was next in line. he had been training as an eye doctor in london and he was called back to syria to prepare for taking over the presidency. with his british—born wife by his side, he first presented a new image of syria to the world. the west

responded. there was even an audience with the queen. but the change that so many syrians hoped for at home failed to materialise. when an uprising against him again in 2011, he responded with tanks in the streets. as a count of the trust is multiplied, bashar assad denied taking place. refusing to take responsibility. refusing to take resonsibili . ~ ., �* refusing to take resonsibili .~ ~' responsibility. we don't kill eo - le, responsibility. we don't kill peeple. no _ responsibility. we don't kill people, no government - responsibility. we don't kill people, no government in l responsibility. we don't kill| people, no government in it full tilt as people unless it's led by a crazy person. as president, i became president because of public support. it is impossible for anyone in the state to give order to kill. whoever it was to give the actual orders, bashar al—assad heads a regime that killed too many of its own people to count. also, with chemical weapons that are internationally banned. this was the aftermath of an attack

with sarin gas over the capital in 2013. hundreds of people were killed. the west repeatedly said that bashar al—assad must go, but however sickening the violent, there was no stomach to really take on his regime. he repeatedly said he was merely fighting terrorists.— said he was merely fighting terrorists. ~ , ., , , ., terrorists. when you shoot you in, and terrorists. when you shoot you in. and when — terrorists. when you shoot you in, and when you _ terrorists. when you shoot you in, and when you shoot, - terrorists. when you shoot you in, and when you shoot, you i in, and when you shoot, you aim, you aim at terrorists in order to protect civilians. again, if you talk about specialty, you can't have war without casualties.— specialty, you can't have war without casualties. there were more chemical— without casualties. there were more chemical attacks. - without casualties. there were more chemical attacks. many, | more chemical attacks. many, many more casualties. but back in 2015, russia had stepped in to turn the tide of the war in bashar al—assad's favour. it was russian air strikes and support from iran and hezbollah that helped defeat the rebels. it led to this moment in 2023.

after years of isolation come president decides as an arab league suburbs, his regional assimilation victory at the time. as he was in saudi arabia, the rebels were confined to the north—west of syria. but then came this immediate offensive by the rebels who headed first for aleppo, syria's second city. they went on to capture more and more territory. we can because the support it was able to rely on was no longer there. now, he is gone leaving a country deeply scarred by his brutal rule. we set let's speak to hamish de bretton—gordon, a former british army officer and founder of the syria medical charity, doctors under fire. thank you for making time to talk to us and i spoke to on friday, the rebels had taken hammer, aleppo, they were on the brink of taking hommes and

here we are. sunday. they had taken the capital, damascus. give us your view on how they've been able to move through syria so quickly to achieve this.— through syria so quickly to achieve this. _, ., ., ., ., achieve this. good afternoon. this is a great _ achieve this. good afternoon. this is a great day. _ achieve this. good afternoon. | this is a great day. tomorrow, is really on the hard work begins. but the fact that they managed to retake syria so quickly and with relatively few casualties i think it's down to two key things. first of all, hts, the rebels who will lead this fight, this army, which includes a lot of the old syrian army, a variable to be professional, well equipped and well disciplined. that is why they've been able to overcome they've been able to overcome the syrian army that has lost all its capabilities over the last four years. very poorly led, the russian advisers sort

of left very quickly when they realised things were going badly and so did the iranian advisers but most importantly, it syrian people that have allowed the men and have waited for this day since 2011 when the arab spring started. so, i think it's been a popular uprising as well. of course, what happens next is key and lets hope the words coming from the leader of each yesterday are good when the dust settles tomorrow. hopefully, we get into transition which is absolutely the key thing that must be syrian led, must be arab led, and it must be what the people of syria want. before we look in a bit more detail at transition, you describe hts as well disciplined. so, it is a question of what they want to do with that discipline. we heard from activist area saying on one hand, nothing can be worse than the assad regime,

but she also expressed caution about what regimes potentially can use to gain the trust of the people. can use to gain the trust of the maple-— can use to gain the trust of the people. can use to gain the trust of the --eole. , , . the people. yes absolutely. we will have to _ the people. yes absolutely. we will have to see _ the people. yes absolutely. we will have to see if _ the people. yes absolutely. we will have to see if there - the people. yes absolutely. we will have to see if there is - will have to see if there is because they were. i've been in the art of syria a lot since 2013, i've met a lot of the diaspora who are excited to go backin diaspora who are excited to go back in and generally syria is a more secular country. hopefully, it will dissolve into this isis al-qaeda led type environment that happened in 2003 in iraq. you know, what the coalition did in iraq hopefully the transition was —— would do the opposite. seve got a long lasting peaceful reconstruction of serious

things a valley balance of the month i get my feeling for the syrians i know and highly qualified doctors and judges and police are ready to go back and police are ready to go back and help. actually, they do give confidence that if things go right of the west supports with resources and of the arab world supports syria then there is a chance that it will be a much brighter day tomorrow than it has the last 50 years. {flare it has the last 50 years. give us our it has the last 50 years. give us your thoughts _ it has the last 50 years. give us your thoughts on - it has the last 50 years. give us your thoughts on what - it has the last 50 years. give us your thoughts on what an orderly transition might look like or should look like. absolutely. i think the first thing is key at the institutes and government at the moment i'm not disbanded as they were in iraq. we need the free syrian army, all the evil generals have run for the hills along time ago, and there are people who can come back and help that. we need, they need a peaceful still. the evil police leaders have gone, we need

experts in there. they also need a mechanism of government, the infrastructure, the power and transport and sewage have been decimated over the last ten years. that all needs to be rebuilt. as the outgoing prime minister said, rebuilt. as the outgoing prime ministersaid, he rebuilt. as the outgoing prime minister said, he will hopefully negotiate with the rebels and to create elections. it is key at the moment that we don't dissolve all of those, that there is absolute anarchy. that's key but again, it must be come at the west can't impose anything here. what we can do is give resources and we can do is give resources and we can get expertise. hopefully, the arab states and the other states will get involved to help syria go through this really difficult process and give them as much chance as possible to come through it too much brighter day tomorrow. it's key that it's done in

orderly fashion. if you give syria as much help as possible but there are lots of people waiting in the wings who did have keyjobs in syria and are waiting to go back. all the refugees in turkey, and across europe, back and go back in and help rebuild the country. so, yeah, the transitions would be really difficult. nobody underestimated but hopefully we don't make, we try to fit rights and don't make the mistakes. there's a chance it could be a much better syria in future and it has been the last 50 years. i future and it has been the last 50 ears. , ., ., ., 1535