the way rescue cheese become pools in a cruise here to the school concert. i'm afraid i'll never see him again. when. oh you lost on the rock. starts december 18th, on dw, the this is dw news line from phillip lynn syrian president, sasha alice out fleas the capital as rebel forces stone into the mass. the rebels declared the city a free from the sides, decades long roof announcing the stuff of a new here for the ceiling. and curious, prime minister says he is ready to assist with a peaceful transfer of the

i'm anthony, how it welcome to the program. syrian president special alice out his fled the capital of damascus to an unknown destination of to rebel forces into the city to limited resistance. the insurgents have declared the city of free from assad's decades long roll less than 2 weeks after launching the lightning offensive. in the north of the country where it is reports that syrian army combined has notified its officers of the full, the regime, citing senior military officials, serious prime minister mohammed the i'll john lee, as announced he is ready to cooperate with a peaceful transfer of power to any leadership chosen by the people that they definitely report to alex footman has been following developments in syria. alex, good to see you. i'm with pretty much talking here about the full of the rise and what we know is happening in the last few hours. oh anthony, it's been moving at

a lighting pace is everybody's been saying, and i think especially the that stands out in these times of seemingly intractable conflicts going on in other parts of the world. so to see the change this large after 24 years of besides rule coming about this quickly and with as far as we've heard, limited to no bloodshed. and that's pretty astounding. a few hours ago, rebels coming from the north took the key city of homes. um, now that was at the time seen as a stepping stone towards a push further to damascus. but little did we know that would be coming just hours later. so along the way, these rebels coming from at least 3 different directions towards damascus. they were meeting and they were freeing prisoners from from regime prisons along the way. and there were reports that military units that they were encountering

were, were retreating. lots of the syrian soldiers were playing across the board into the rock for example. and so the reuters reported, for example, that the, some of the rebel says it said that they entered damascus without any opposition. so we're just able to march right in that would seem to confirm a report from the saudi outlet that said that the syrian army commands had informed its officers and soldiers that the regime had fallen. and the most significantly then the leader and self assad fled. we don't know where i don't know how long people have been tracking flights out of the country, but no one knows for sure. um and and so the, the prime minister is in position says that he will respect the wishes of the people, whoever, whatever leadership they, they choose, he will help the peaceful transition of power there. so it's just to recap,

as far as we know, there's been little to no opposition from the military and these revel groups when i'll have to sorted out among themselves, who will take on the leadership of this new chapter in serious history? yeah, the next dance will tell us a lot as have the last few weeks. thanks for bring yourself to that. appreciate it . early it's. i spoke with aaron zealand. i syria analyst at the washington institute for the east policy. i asked him how this revel advance is managing to progress. so incredibly quickly we only see now that 3 provinces of the country are under the control thursday, and it's heartland and the coastal areas around talk to summer, talk the a and then the city center in damascus. everything else has fall neither to the h, just let a fence of the affiliated southern ops room in the south. and then the turkish

bacteria, national army controls north central syria and then the us backed syrian democratic forces control the entire east. now, how do you explain there and that this rebel advance is progressing so incredibly quickly, especially now they are down into the areas that we relate to believe we're assad, strong hopes or yeah, i mean, i'm just as surprised as anybody else. and i literally been following this every single day since the 2011 uprising. but it's clear that it's an illustration that the dire straits of the regime back in 2015 when the russians 1st went in, was that that's been confirmed in many ways. and that if the russians and the earnings had gone in, then at the time, it's likely the regime would have fallen 9 years ago. but now, because the russians have been distracted in ukraine, the iranians been having to deal with the aftermath of israel's war and her mos in his bola. there just isn't anybody there to do it and because it's been so

lightning quick and she hasn't been able to consolidate control and move on to the next cities each time relatively swiftly, it hasn't provided space for counter offensive. and instead it's created a momentum of its own where now you're hearing that h t s is facilitating the defection of senior regime officials and officers inside of damascus city right now. and so what our sounds, the allies that you, you bring up russia and, or ron, what are they doing at the prism of a i'm, i'm willing to help or are they just, i'm able to help at this point. and i think that in the beginning they thought maybe they would have more time to create some form of counter offensive. but because everything has been going so swiftly, you see kind of a fait accompli happening where in the last day or 2, you saw

a russian calling for civilians from russian civilians to leave damascus. you see that their navy ships have left the ports in the coast so that they wouldn't get hit potentially by the rebel forces. and then, or ron and its proxy networks of fled across the border in iraq as well as loving on. and so now it's just the show of the regime itself. and the question is, um, you know, how long will this taken whether it will be peaceful take over damascus, or will there be some level of fighting between now and then? and so just one more in this area without iran and russia, as you say, are assad's forces and who are left the line of a number of i being out maneuvered or are they have some willing to stand and lose? they lost trying to hold on to hold on to ground in the name of a sides raising. it's definitely all of the above. you see that? you know, it's important to remember that a sensory gene ball on p himself is al, away they still need soon he is,

but most soon he still disliked the regime. so now that it appears that it's all over, they don't want to have anything to do with it anymore. and so the allies within the region have fled mainly to the coastal areas in the heartland and talk to some of talk to you. so it's likely that a lot of the remnants of, of the region fighting force or the sunni is that the base in damascus and they have no interest in probably fighting against h t s. at this point, especially since she has no controls the 2nd 3rd and 4th largest cities in the country, that hasn't been much of a flight put up so far. are we expecting anything different that happened in damascus as well? when we did talk a week ago, i thought maybe once we got to hop on homes, that would be a little bit more of a fight. and, you know, there's been skirmishes here and there, but it hasn't been anything large scale or nearly what we saw maybe a decade ago in the fighting. so at this point, it seems that there probably will be fighting to take the capital, but it's likely won't be as, as big as maybe many would've imagined just

a week ago when i have a few guys to observe the rebel group around, boom, how much al giovanni from a distance. what do they want? they want to be the new rulers of syria. of course, it will be in a different manner than what they aside or seem has been doing obviously the spiders and follows this baptist era of nationalistic ideology where as h t us, the acronym are conservative is list um, so they'll try and rule based off of their interpretations of islam, especially as it relates to minorities within the society. but generally speaking, we have an 8 and a half year track record of them governing it live in northwest syria now. and they've primarily just been focused on, you know, getting services and delivering goods as needed to the local population. and it hasn't been anything along the lines of what say we've seen with, you know, the,

as long as the state are all kite or even, you know, governments like in the tall bonds. if get us then it's still a concern. is the ministry team. it's still has a thought return elements, but it's uh, you know, not quite as you know, it's not as extreme is the tall blonde as long exceed earl title. will assad still be present in syria? do you think at the end of the no, not at this point, i'd be surprised if he was the president by the end of next week and selling with the washington institute. thanks so much for your time. appreciate it. thanks for having me. and an important foot now to that interview with aaron's ellen that was recorded some hours ago in which time assad's fight has been sealed. so just to recap, that breaking news. very sources on that reporting that syrian president assad has flayed the capital, damascus. he's said to have boarded a plane with these destination unknown. this comes as syrian rebels has entered,

the capital, damascus, reportedly meeting with limited resistance from government forces. we will bring you updates to this developing story, of course. as soon as we get, okay, we'll move on for now, because we'll latest and dignitaries have gathered in paris to mock the reopening of not for the cathedral electronic building has undergone a painstaking restoration. after being damaged in the lodge, $5.20 prince president amendment will call attended the ceremony. along with us president elect, donald trump, e french president, beloved of me, so lengthy and prince with the balance of note down a ringing once again. 3 tents on the cathedral stores symbolized its grand reopening. hundreds of gifts filled the immaculately renovating truth building pain,

spatial things to the fire of finances, who saved it from being completely destroyed in a mess of 55 years ago. thousands of experience have worked tirelessly to restore every detail of the cathedral with leaders and dignitaries from around the world gathering to mock. it's read this strange president a menu on the phone, use the occasion to draw parallels between culture and politics. the since we have rediscovered what great nations can do me to achieve the impossible dis, this cathedral is the happy metaphor of what a nation is in what the world should be. a fraternity of people determined to make great choices to fill the holes for us. president elect donald trump was front and

seemed to for the ceremony and his sister to into the world stage since moving this election, his political l i. e. l must also attended, along with ukraine's below them easily escape. but while they were in paris, mccomb will appear together for 2 weeks at the presidential palace. european leaders, a trying to persuade trumpet to maintain support for ukraine's war against russia. president zalinski described to the tooks as constructive away from the political discussions. the notes are dogs returned much a moment to celebrate full for regions to get outside to watch its reopening the 1st mass and the restored cathedral will be held on sunday. so managing its revival and after 5 long years. right time. now to take a look at some of the stories making headlines. somali survivors of the by the

capsized in the indian ocean have been reunited with their loved ones in nobody's that had been saved for a month trying to bridge the french out in the mail in the metal gasket. at least $25.00 people died in the bare with their booby slip as one by judy collins, film with the developers of solid at auction for $28000000.00 us dollars. the famous shoes was stolen from a museum almost 2 decades ago before being returned. now, the most expensive piece of hollywood memorabilia ever sold. alright, let's get you a quick reminder about top story. this syrian president bash the other side, has a fled, the capital damascus to an unknown destination. of the rebel forces entered the city to limited resist. the insurgents have declared the city free from a subs, daycare, little room, less than 2 weeks after launching

a lightning offensive in the new account. and with that pricing, use your up to date. after a short break, it will, it's waffles, the model industries and put in a brand new environment, valet denser piece into the country. it can catch up on all the latest from syria and elsewhere in the clouds, when a youtube channel and online at the w dot com, the living plan in d. w bought. com, how to make greener choices in your everyday lives. but honestly, try to busy and working 32 hours a week should be better for the assignments in the 40, but of course we shouldn't be 90 the. the living scientists just had subscribed. whatever you listen to hard costs. the only way i can be on the top is to create my own empire. just got the stories to

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