syrian rebels declare damascus is free 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 into the road, abandoned, even uniforms, military uniforms taken off and soldiersjoining them. russia says assad is now in moscow as his palace is looted. as syrians celebrate around the world, international leaders welcome the fall of bashar al—assad's regime. a fall of the regime is a fundamental act ofjustice, a moment of historic opportunity for the long—suffering people of syria, to build a better future for their power. —— for their proud country.

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? hello, i'm maryam moshiri. welcome to bbc news. russian state news agencies have announced that syria's deposed president, basharal— assad is in moscow, and has been granted political asylum. a kremlin source said moscow said it has based its decision on "humanitarian consideration". meanwhile, the man who led the islamist rebels who toppled him has been addressing cheering supporters for the first time since arriving in damascus. abu mohammed al—jawlani told supporters at the umayyad mosque that all syrians could now breathe freely. he said assad's leadership had spread sectarianism and corruption. western leaders have welcomed assad's fall. but in a sign of how uncertain

the future of syria may be, us planes have struck more than 75 islamic state targets in syria. that's according to the pentagon. the us military central command says it has carried out more than 75 air strikes on what it says are islamic state targets inside syria. a spokesperson said it was to prevent the group from taking advantage of the current situation in syria. president biden has also commented on the rebellion — here's a little of what he had to say in a statement he gave at the white house a short while ago...(tx sot) at long last, there assad regime has fully foot of this regime has fully foot of this regime brutalised, tortured and killed nearly hundred of thousands of serious, if fall of the resume is a fundamental act of justice of the resume is a fundamental act ofjustice for them it is an opportunity for the long—suffering people of syria to build a betterfuture long—suffering people of syria to build a better future for their proud country. it is also a moment of risk and uncertainty as we all turn to the question of what comes next, the united states and will work with our partners and

stakeholders into syria to help then sees an opportunity to manage the risk. here's our us state department correspondent, tom bateman, for more on what president biden had to say about the situation in syria and the support he wants to give to the neighbouring countries as well. faster for what he was doing was basically set these rapid and extraordinary developments in syria in the context of the wider region, in the context of what has been happening over the last year after the hamas led attacks against israel of october the 7th and the subsequent israeli attacks on hezbollah in lebanon, which has drastically weakened and degraded hezbollah, which was along with iran, propping up the assad regime inside syria. what he effectively said that it is because of that approach to take out and decapitate hezbollah and because that russia had to dodge its

invasion into ukraine which again, the us was forcefully pushed back against it by arming the ukrainians, that it had a basically weakened at the two big forces, russia and iran outside of syria that were propping up assad. he was basically trying to take american credit for this fundamental shift in syria and the historic toppling of president assad and therefore spoke about the end of a brutal dictator and how this opened up new opportunities for the people of syria. that is the credit part of it but what he went on to talk about there, wish you had, which they really worried about now is the risks. they have a vacuum and are now really concerned about what that gets filled with. let's turn now to events in damascus today. our correspondent barbara plett—usher is there — the bbc is the only british broadcaster currently with news teams in the city. here's her report.

this is an extraordinary moment, a seismic change in syria's balance of power. the strongman of damascus bashar assad is gone. rebels have declared victory. we were the first western journalist to reach the capital after it fell. this is where people are celebrating in the central umayyad square, they're giving me peace signs —— you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. people giving me peace signs and there is good good be so much better now that bit assad is gone. it is a mix ofjoy and fear in the city. there are those who supported bashar al—assad, protected by him and now they are wondering what is going to happen. here, i have spoken to people long waiting where his downfall. translation: thank you. thank you. the tyrant has fallen.

many of her family died under president assad's rule, some in prison. my cousin, my son, my family, all gone! all of them! how are you feeling? translation: it is an - indescribable feeling, we're we're so happy. after all the years of dictatorship that we have lived through, we were imprisoned in 2014 and now we are out, thank god. we won because our men and fighters and now we are at the moment that we are going to build the greatest syria. the old syria has gone with breathtaking speed. the army melting away in the face of the rebel advance. now to be, 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 historical umayyad mosque.

abu mohamed al—jawlani, head of the islamist group hayat tahrir al—sham. the word a. a historic moment in every sense of the word. abu mohamed al—jawlani here for the first time in the great place —— —— umayyad mosque. he has been playing down links to al-qaeda saying that he wants to build a syria for all its people. from the syrian prime minister, also a message of calm. translation: we are all concerned about. his country and its institutions and facilities. i'm here in my home and do not intend to leave it except in a peaceful manner

to ensure the continuation of the work of public institutions. the president fled as the rebels closed in and reports in russia say that he has turned up russia say that he has turned up in moscow. it is of his father pulled down shortly before he flew out of the country. his damascus residents, now a tourist attraction, stripped bare of anything valuable or 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 to fearing chaos. this is without a government in charge. this is without a government in char: e. this is without a government in charae. , , , ., charge. our president should have just _ charge. our president should have just left, _ charge. our president should have just left, you _ charge. our president should have just left, you should - charge. our president should i have just left, you should have havejust left, you should have taken the proper measures needed for him to actually give the army or the police control over those areas and to a new presidency comes in. it was purely selfish and he left. the country is _

purely selfish and he left. the country is hoping _ purely selfish and he left. the country is hoping for peace and fear and chaos. a different group control different areas and no one knows how this will play out but whatever happens here, will be felt across the middle east. our correspondent is also in damascus. syrian officials denied reports that bashar al—assad had fled the country. but the company confirmed that he had been granted asylum on humanitarian grounds for the moscow had been one of his key allies at the foot of a key rebellion in 2011 and a return, the kremlin had a to a syrian naval port and a military base. russian officials but they have been told by the remaining serial authorities that they will be able to maintain the price is about as assad's are the key backer has seen an upsurge of sentiment against it. take a look at these pictures, it shows how its embassy in

damascus with a vandalised earlier. russia had propped up assad and his father for decades about in the past few years, theirfocus has shifted. russian state news agencies have announced that syria's deposed president, basharal— assad is in moscow, and has been granted political asylum. a kremlin source said moscow said it has based its decision on "humanitarian consideration". the anchor added some more details, quoting a source in a crumbling saying that russia had a lwa ys always supported the idea of a political settlement of the syrian crisis and quite interesting, this, he said that russian officials are in contact with representatives of the syrian armed opposition who leaders have guaranteed the security of russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in the territory of syria and he added that we

hope that political dialogue will continue in the interest 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 outlays quoting it, i do not think there is any doubt about it but interesting here that clearly moscow is trying to find a language, trying to find a language, trying to find a language, trying to continue a dialogue with syria's new leadership here. of course, moscow's big concern now is the fate of his two military bases in syria. the air base, both of which have given moscow a foothold in the eastern mediterranean over the eastern mediterranean over the last few years and russia does not want to lose that. clearly, from this, we can see that a dialogue is going on now as the russian state tv and carpet it. representatives of

the syrian armed opposition is talking about things like this as your capacity for future relationship so even though, moscow had supported basher al—assad for nine years and had sent him all of this military assistance to show him up and keep him in powerfor the last nine years, now that he has been toppled, russia is trying to find a dialogue with the new leadership clearly in this area. as the assad regime collapse, the doors to prisons were thrown open, hundreds of people walked out, many were thought to have beenjailed people walked out, many were thought to have been jailed for being opponents to assad although other criminals are likely to have taken advantage of the situation to escape. with me now is our middle east analyst. tell me more buses but is because one of the images that we have seen coming out of syria is people being liberated from the business for that i

think it is going to be a defining image of the downfall of the assad family. fix, defining image of the downfall of the assad family.— of the assad family. a city that the — of the assad family. a city that the rebels _ of the assad family. a city that the rebels came - of the assad family. a city - that the rebels came through, when he first think they did was to open at the central princess and let thousands of people out. some of these people out. some of these people have been pressing for decades and their families did not know whether they were dead or alive —— was to open at the central prison. they are actually stories of mothers and families people basically returning for the dead, could not recognise who these people are. it goes back to the time of it but i'd's —— assad's father. there was a huge fear that people would be disappeared and never heard of again into some dark, syrian dungeon and that would be the end of them. 2011, since the uprising, syrian human rights network say that 100,000 people have been subject to arbitrary

arrest and detention so this is arrest and detention so this is a huge and is on an industrial scale and the prison that represented this most severely in terms of the torture, the sexual assault, the mass execution was opened today with the combination of what happened. we have seen pictures that we cannot quite verify but there was a surface level of there was a surface level of the prison that was released and we saw people coming out of that. they dug down to try and find the other level they believe was there, the dockers area where people had been held for much longer and it took them hours to get there. did them hours to get there. did the find them hours to get there. did they find anyone? the - them hours to get there. did l they find anyone? the pictures are unclear _ they find anyone? the pictures are unclear about _ they find anyone? the pictures are unclear about that - they find anyone? the pictures are unclear about that but - are unclear about that but there _ are unclear about that but there is_ are unclear about that but there is a sense that the was already— there is a sense that the was already this darkness but there was another layer beyond that. it's incredibly shocking and i think the deep hatred of the assad family and all that it represents is a once three syria owes a lot to that,

that's fear and humiliation that's fear and humiliation that was engendered in people in order to get their submission and repression. the 2011 uprising essentially was triggered by that in the self—awareness on the youths were essentially taken, arrested, their bodies were returned to their families mutilated and that was the final straw would lead to people in the middle of the arab spring, the 2011 uprising say that they had had enough. that was the rallying cry, one particular boy who had been killed, his face was the symbol of the revolution for the first deal also. of the revolution for the first deal alse— of the revolution for the first deal also. , , i. , deal also. this is your number eo - le deal also. this is your number peeple that — deal also. this is your number peeple that we _ deal also. this is your number people that we hearing - people that we hearing indiscretions and i interviewed someone who was imprisoned and tortured in syria. it tells. the sellers how 1541 00:15:50,958 --> 00:15:51