syrian rebels declare damascus is free as the assad family's as the assad family's half—century in power ends. the bbc is in damascus. as we came into the city we saw military equipment beside the road, abandoned. tanks, military vehicles, even soldiers took off their uniforms and just joined the population. russia says assad has left the country, reports that russia has said michael. in moscow. as syrians celebrate around the world, international leaders welcome the fall of bashar al—assad's regime. as the main rebel group leader abu mohammed al—jawlani, speaks to crowds at a historic mosque in damascus, exactly who are his group and what do they believe?

just over a week after launching the offensive which triggered the assad collapse told supporters that all syrians are good now to breathe freely. he said assad's leadership and spread sectarianism and corruption. in a speech laden with religious overtones, he said the removal of president assad was a victory what she called the heroic mujahedin rebels. 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."

in the last few minutes, reuters has ported sources in the kremlin saying that the deposed bashar al—assad and his family are in moscow. there are also reports that assad has arrived with his family members, that is according to the russian state news agencies, citing unnamed sources. they say that russia has granted assad political asylum out of humanitarian consideration. also, just to let you know there are apparently talks being requested on syria by a roster with the un security council consultations going on. a partner could take place on december the 9th. reports that russia is a question consultations on syria at the un security council. —— is requesting. concerns from russia about the future security of the military bases,

they have two in syria. and about the safety of their personnel, the military, who are in syria still, of course. our correspondent barbara plett—usher has reached damascus. this is an extraordinary moment. a seismic change in syria's balance of power. the strongman of damascus, bashar al—assad, is gone. rebels have declared victory. we were the first western journalists to reach the capital, just hours after it fell. this is where people are celebrating, in the central umayyad square. civilians and rebels. you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. people are driving around in their cars. they're giving me peace signs. they're saying that life is going to be so much better now that bashar al—assad is gone. but there is a mix ofjoy and fear in the city. there are those who supported bashar al—assad who felt they were protected by him,

and now they're wondering what is going to happen here. i spoke to people who have long been waiting for his downfall. thank you, thank you, she says. the tyrant has fallen. many of her family died under president assad's rule. some imprisoned. my cousin, my son. my family. all. all of them. how are you feeling? translated: it's an indescribable feeling. we're so happy. after all the years of dictatorship we've lived through... we were in prison in 2014, and now we're out, thank god.

we won because of our men and ourfighters and now we're at the moment that we're going to build the greatest syria. and the old syria has gone with breathtaking speed, the army melting away in the face of the rebel advance. last week it was aleppo. yesterday the city of homs. last night the outskirts of damascus. when they arrived, the rebels went straight to a notorious prison to set the inmates free. today, their leader took a victory tour of damascus, visiting the historic umayyad mosque. abu mohammad al—julani, head of the islamist group hayat tahrir al—sham. he's been playing down past links to al-qaeda, saying he wants to build a syria for all its people from the syrian prime minister, also a message of calm. translated: we're all concerned about this country and its institutions and facilities. i'm here in my home and i do not intend to leave it except in a peaceful manner, in order to ensure the continuation of the work of public institutions. the president's whereabouts are unknown. reports that he flew out of the country. a statue of his father

pulled down shortly before he fled. his damascus residence now a tourist attraction. stripped bare of anything valuable, of anything at all. we saw people carrying out furniture with no one trying to stop them. the rebels may have brought freedom, but not security. the country is hoping for peace and fearing chaos. different groups control different areas. no one knows how this will play out, but whatever happens here will be felt across the middle east. barbara plett usher, bbc news, damascus. the collapse of the assad regime in syria has raised many questions, which we'll be answering for you in the coming hour. perhaps the most important — who are the rebels who have taken control of damascus and syria's other main cities? given the support which iran and russia had been offering president assad, what will this do to the balance of power in the middle east? and given the stocks of modern military equipment — and, it's believed, chemical

weapons — which were controlled by the assad government, what will the rebels do next? we expect the us president, joe biden, do deliver a remark shortly. we will go to that as soon as it happens. earlier, we heard from our state department correspondent tom bateman, who is in washington — he told us what the reponse has been from the white house so far. i think the speed and magnitude of events caught them off—guard. we have mostly a stunned silence from the white house over the weekend, save for a very short statement on saturday when the said the president biden is closely monitoring what they called extraordinary events. however, he is meeting his national security team this afternoon. we think we might get some words from him in the next hour or so. what they are trying to figure out is what comes next, who rules syria. the us administration will not

mourn the end of assad, the emasculation of iran, nor the humiliation of russia in syria. they had come to the terms with an undesirable balance of forces but one that was stabilised, largely, in syria. that is completely up in the air now. remember, the americans have a small number of forces in the east of syria and also along part of the border close to iraq and jordan. officially, the mission is to contain, or to degrade, islamic state, but what they also do as part of that is to train and equip what the us it sees as a moderate arab and kurdish fighters. i expect the kind of thing we're going to see from the administration is a call for a cautious, negotiated settlement around the governance of syria. one that i think will lean

heavily on their favourite factions in the country. donald trump has also been posting about events. what are his people saying at the moment, and what is the likelihood of donald trump withdrawing those troops that are in syria? yeah, we have had a couple of quite lengthy post on how of quite lengthy posts on his social media network in the last 2a hours. to broadly sort of sum up his position, he does a few things, he blames it all on president obama, calling it a mess in syria. he effectively says that russia is right to get out, to get syria off its hands. he also says this mess is a syrian mess, not our problem, and that the us should have nothing to do with it. that echoes the positions that he had when he was president last time. famously, he suddenly announced that he was going to withdraw us troops from syria and he took a very big push by the system to sort of prevent that

happening completely. there are around 800 troops that remain in the country. as i mentioned, that mission is against islamic state. i think once he comes back into office after the 24th of january, it is hard to say because we don't know, things are moving so quickly, it is pretty hard to not even where we will be by the time he gets into office. but remember, he came to office on a platform of ending foreign wars and disengaging the us from its role in them. this is a very small role, what you will hear from the biden administration, it is a small price to pay to get stability and containment of islamic state, which is largely pretty much degraded in the east of syria. that having the small number of forces is a small price to pay, and they can exert influence on the wider political process in syria. i think it remains to be seen whether or not mr trump tries to pull out.

let's get more on the reports that bashar al—assad and his family are in moscow. steve rosenberg is with us. a few minutes ago, russian news agencies are quoting a source in the kremlin reporting that bashar al—assad and his family had arrived in moscow and had been granted asylum out of humanitarian considerations. also, russian state television in a few moments ago also quoting sources basically said the same thing. and the anchor added some more details, again quoting a source in the kremlin, saying that russia had all supported the idea of a political settlement of the syrian crisis. and then, quite interesting— he said that russian officials were in

contact with representatives of the syrian armed opposition. their leaders have guaranteed the security of russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of syria. he added we hope political dialogue will continue in the interests of the syrian people and the development of bilateral relations between russia and syria. clearly, this is quoting a source in the kremlin, but these are state outlets quoting it, so i don't think there is any doubt about it. clearly, moscow trying to find the language, trying to continue a dialogue with syria's new leadership here. because of course most coppers �*s concern now is the fate of its two military bases. —— moscow's concern. both of them have given moscow a foothold in eastern mediterranean over the few years. russia doesn't want

to lose that. clearly, from this, we consider the dialogue is going on now with, as the russian state tv anchor put it, representatives of the syrian armed opposition, to talk about things like this. and to talk about the future relationship. so, even though moscow had supported bashar al—assad for nine years and had sent him all this military assistance to show him up and keep them in powerfor the last nine show him up and keep them in power for the last nine years, now that she has been toppled, russia trying to find a dialogue with the new leadership, clearly, in syria. and reports also that russia is asking for a un security council meeting. what is the significance of that? what will it be trying to do? i significance of that? what will it be trying to do?— it be trying to do? i haven't heard that _ it be trying to do? i haven't heard that here, _ it be trying to do? i haven't heard that here, but - it be trying to do? i haven't heard that here, but we - it be trying to do? i haven't i heard that here, but we have heard that here, but we have heard that here, but we have heard that russia has stressed

that it believes in the need to resume negotiations under the auspices of the un to try to secure a political settlement in the syrian crisis. the russians are stressing that, all along, they have wanted a political settlement of this crisis. what is interesting here is that until very recently the state media in russia was referring to what they are now calling the armed opposition in a syrian as a terrorist. that what has gone out of reporting here. now they are talking about armed opposition, all the opposition. clearly, because they are trying to develop this dialogue with the groups who have now taken over in syria. we with the groups who have now taken over in syria.— taken over in syria. we had from a guest _ taken over in syria. we had from a guest a _ taken over in syria. we had from a guest a little - taken over in syria. we had from a guest a little while i taken over in syria. we had i from a guest a little while ago that turkey has been a key player, talking to some of the armed opposition groups, and russia does have a relationship with turkey. we obviously don't

know what the back channels for discussion are, but one assumes that there are lots of lines of communication at least being attempted right now.- attempted right now. yeah, absolutely. _ attempted right now. yeah, absolutely. russia - attempted right now. yeah, absolutely. russia has - attempted right now. yeah, absolutely. russia has a - absolutely. russia has a relationship with turkey. not always an easy relationship. the relationship between president erdogan and president putin has had its ups and downs over the years, to put it mildly. but, yes, moscow has made it clear... i think there was a statement from the foreign ministry today that made it clear that russia was in touch with all the main players here in this crisis. so, you would imagine the conversations are going on with turkey as well about the current situation. we have been looking at it as lines that bashar al—assad and

his family reportedly given asylum, according to russia, on humanitarian grounds come in moscow, according to of the news agencies. one of the big questions of what is going on as who are these rebel fighters. frank gardner has more. syria is at a crossroads. everything now depends on us. that's the main rebel group here that's ousted assad, because this could go either way. a successful transition to a democracy of sorts or a descent into chaos. the words of their leader here, abu mohammed al—jolani, are encouraging. he says he wants a government for all syrians. so is that really what's going to happen? on the one hand, they have been trying to project a moderate and more modern image of themselves and for, you know, their rule in idlib for the purpose of winning over the local population as well as the international community. but on the other hand,

they have really also tried to hold on to their islamist character and roots, on the one hand, because that's that's how they started, but also to make sure that they do not antagonise the hard liners in rebel—held areas as well as in hts's own ranks. hts, the main rebel group does have a murky past. until 2016, it was linked to al-oaida, and it's still a proscribed terrorist group by many governments. the dark red on this map shows where it controls, which now extends to some of the pink areas abandoned by the assad regime. there are also other rebel groups in both the north and south, plus the kurds up in the northeast and finally over in the west, the alawite heartland, assad's former power base. and then there are the other nations involved — russia, iran and turkey. so navigating through all these competing interests is going to be a daunting task for whatever

government emerges. i'm going to come on to hts in a moment, but can ijust ask for your reaction to these reports that assad himself and his family might be in moscow? obviously, he has been backed by both iran and russia. would he have had the choice of going to either of those destinations? or others? what does it tell us if you is in russia?— does it tell us if you is in russia? . ~ , ., , russia? regarding assad and his whereabouts, _ russia? regarding assad and his whereabouts, it _ russia? regarding assad and his whereabouts, it is _ russia? regarding assad and his whereabouts, it is still— russia? regarding assad and his whereabouts, it is still very - whereabouts, it is still very unclear, but russia make sense. the options were very limited for him. iran could have given him some protection, russia could have given protection, but in many ways it makes more sense for iran to see him go to russia rather than turn around,

because iran inevitably will want some influence in this region afterwards, and it is not a good look for iran to be giving asylum to a deeply deeply unpopular president who has bombed, tortured and murdered his own civilians for the past 14 years. so, my initial sense is that russia makes some sense, but frankly, assad does not have many options left.— assad does not have many options left. tell us what you know about _ options left. tell us what you know about hts _ options left. tell us what you know about hts and - options left. tell us what you know about hts and their - know about hts and their leader. ~ ., know about hts and their leader. ~ . ., leader. we have interviewed a number of _ leader. we have interviewed a number of hts _ leader. we have interviewed a number of hts fighters - leader. we have interviewed a number of hts fighters over i leader. we have interviewed a i number of hts fighters over the past two years. this is a group that has started as a part of the front, even before that its leader, abu mohammad al—julani, was a formerfighter. leader, abu mohammad al—julani, was a former fighter. he went to iraq in 2003, was imprisoned and can me. inmates who would go on to be part of the islamic states, and he went to syria in the beginning of the civil war,

dispatched to set up an islamic state affiliate in syria. since then, he has changed in summers. we don't know exactly how much. he broke with iis upon the parent organisation tried to take over the organisation he had started in syria, and he affiliated himself with al-qaeda at that point. in 2017, he formed hts, which is what he has led ever since. the last four years, they have tried to present a more pragmatic, locally focused image. but real questions remain as to whether that will last a long term or whether thatis last a long term or whether that is just a charm offensive. and what about his links with other verbal groups? because obviously, the wider body is that we could see an increasing jihadis groups, or return of michael seater groups, a threat not only to the region beyond.

—— is groups. is not only to the region beyond. -- is grom— not only to the region beyond. -- is groups. is has a presence in syria- _ -- is groups. is has a presence in syria. there _ -- is groups. is has a presence in syria. there is _ -- is groups. is has a presence in syria. there is a _ -- is groups. is has a presence in syria. there is a number- -- is groups. is has a presence in syria. there is a number of. 1548 00:21:10,285 --> 00:21