these become cones, in a cruise here to the school counseling, missouri, i'm afraid they'll never see him again. when, oh, you lost under the stops december 18th on dw, the. this is dw news live from berlin. serious president bush sharla sod, reportedly weighs the capital as rebel forces storm into damascus. the revel declare the city free from a size 24 year rules. announcing the start of a new era for the syrian people. series prime minister says he's ready to assist with a peaceful transfer of governments. the

mariana evans, dean. it's good to have you with us. we begin with breaking news from syria, where the regime of president bush, char ella sod, has collapsed aside, reportedly fled the capital damascus to an unknown destination. after rebel forces entered the city, meeting little resistance. it's been less than 2 weeks since the rebels launched their offensive against the regime. let's have a look now at how the last few hours unfolded and serious. on saturday night regional leaders and special law subs ally, russia, held an emergency meeting about syria, endor huh. but it appears the country site was already sealed up. why didn't get all my dear brothers, we are living the final moments of liberating homes by god's will. this is a historic moment that would distinguish between right and wrong. a lot, lot of shortly after the rebel alliance released the statement,

rebels declared the central city of homes fully liberated to the joy of pressure by law sides opponents. the damascus was next, and the rebel alliance faced hardly any resistance bands and syrian army check points, foreboding the big announcement by the grace of god, the city of damascus was liberated the tyrant, special aside was over the throne and all i pressed, detainees were released from the regime's prison, the damascus conquests operations room calls on the militia, dean, brothers, and the citizens. to preserve all the property of the free syrian state. long live a free and proud syria for all syrians of all religions.

as rebels into support as celebrated the triumphs and damascus, serious prime minister said he was still in the capital and willing to work with anyone to ensure a smooth transition of power. i am here in my house. i have not left it and i do not intend to leave it except in a peaceful manner so that i can ensure the continuity of the work of public institutions and state institutions and facilities, and ensure there will be security and reassurance as to our fellow citizens i hope that everyone will think rationally and think about their homeland and country who will be better. so now on the streets of damascus and other syrian towns and cities, rational thinking appears to be taking a backseat to rule and motion as assets. opponents celebrate the end of his 20 full year long author retiree enroll. i was bringing

roger a shanahan. he's a middle east analyst and a former army officer, and he served with the un in south lebanon, and syria can joins us today from sydney. roger, welcome. so we've been seeing so many syrians celebrating the fall of the assad regime. but what's next? what kind of governance can we expect from the rebels who are led by the islamist h t s group exactly, etc. see $12000.00 question. after the euphoria of the doubtful of the sawgrass shame passes, then the difficult part of how you actually govern syria is kind of confront everybody. and part of that is regarding the constitution. and in particular, what laws will hold over the land obviously is going to be a combination of existing laws. but it will say that new laws that new governing

power, whoever that is, wants to bring in. so the theories google haven't easily distinguish to it exactly what that means in practice. that everybody be waiting to say, well, we have heard the rebels say they're not looking for revenge. and they've also promised to respect to syria's minorities. but we know that many syrian christians and also allow we support of the sod redeem. so can they can be as minorities and other minority groups rely on the promises by the rebels or again, that's a, that's something that everybody is going to find out in the coming weeks, months and possibly i use certainly the track record as high target y'all's job and i believe my hotel, giovanni would indicate that there is a coordination of people and how power is distributed

amongst those people. at the moment they're saying everybody will be respected. that way. that means everybody will be trained equally and has a cool access to political power that remains to be seen. but certainly it's reasonable to ask questions about how it is a mist uh organization is going to be able to rule that practically at uh with the quality for everybody within the country. we've heard the us pentagon warned that this chaotic and the very dynamic circumstances in syria right now could possibly allow isis to reassert itself. what's your assessment well is let me state is being severely degraded by talking about a couple of 1000 operators. is there somebody still in syria or in missouri and

a desert areas and the united states and it's so you're in democratic force allies have thing working in an anti islamic state mission at the moment, which the kind of what's going on it, syria, i at the moment uh, it's a possible, it's possible that uh, focus is shifted somewhat and obviously groups like islamic site thrive in areas that like governance from a central government. so it's possible that is, that makes tight, we'll get some more afraid of election for a period of time. so we're also getting reports of 11 on has sent troops to reinforce as border with syria. and also israel has sent forces to it's border at the golan heights. what is the broader regional impacts of the fall of the sod regime? well again, everybody's quite nervous about exactly what this means at the moment. uh,

in the yeah, hours since uh, the sunrise. yang hayes, full and uh uh, the right messages are certainly being sent out. uh, we saw before that the, um steering prime minister is still in place. uh, the syrian government institutions are still running and they'll be some period of transition. exactly what that will look like. we're not sure. um. so until we know what that means, the originally implications. a still being sorted out, but we already know at the moment that is a to be applied for or writing an interest in syria and the region and also russian interests not any in syria bidding that brought the middle east as well. so there's already ramifications occurring in the earliest days. we've heard reports that assad has fled, damascus, though his whereabouts are not known. if he has indeed left the country,

where could he have gone? or i think last april, last name zachary same question, that might be the ty stopped. uh, uh, he has left uh for an interim location. uh, events move very quickly. um over the past few days. so. uh perhaps, who is this guy plan hadn't bain, particularly sort of that. um and obviously the special are all a side uh will be a magnet for a program for the rest of his life. so country's going to be, be careful about how much they publicize his presence. it might will be that easy, mean term location and will be next or somewhere else. longer to that was middle east analysts, roger shanahan, roger many thanks. indeed for your insights. my pleasure. and we can now speak to a journalist, osama mohammed who joins us from conditionally

a city in north eastern serious kurdish region. welcome. we're hearing reports about rebel fighters attacking kurdish forces in the northeast of syria where you are. what can you tell us about that? thanks for having b. yeah, that is kind of closer is hoping you can, you know, in the deals language and around just 50 to this collections have been happening during the last couple of days. there is somebody those who are not who are not under the control or under the umbrella of which the c and the old version room baggins, city and region are attacking mandate. and um, there was a media statement to the from the message i will try. you also mentioned that a bodies as a board of the turkish are forces. and this to, to keisha bags versus have interest. the was it for us to quit of old men,

bishop city, and was, are meant vehicles a quick move overall just to quit, and then the men bitch. mr. hardy the console could push them back to know there is havi clutches happening between of the members a middle attorney console and the as the turkish bag forces in the countryside or false members of the coalition until no, they did then to give any clear statement if they get us of board as the, if the monday or not. and us, you know, the russians of the city of the city and redeem we is the one pull out from the front lines to between the, the tories about forces and is the scenes 2 weeks ago with a saying many syrians, both inside the country and also outside of syria, celebrating the fall of the assad regime,

a very brutal regime. how do people feel where you are? how do the kurdish minority in syria look at the developments of the last 12 days and the future to well, the goods are really happy. it's a historical moment for all of them because i have been waiting for this movement for a long time. they go, it smelled because of the shuttle. i said this was because of the gene themselves. the system, the bus region was really, really crucial for the codes of the codes heavy and suffering during the dictates from this region. i know they seem to, there is a chance for freedom that is chose to have that rights. despite that, maybe in the future, there are gonna be some kind of, you know, like conflict or fighting go to collections between it's the c and the, as the but uh,

as the mentioned already that they are open for any kind of negotiations and took, so with the other forces in syria quotes are really happy to day the they are in the streets celebrating does in singing and damaging only the to the uh, states use also bicycles, houses the, like i said before, the add this on bus las ending in conversely, and the and has it got there are of course, still many unknowns and many challenges facing syria and it's future direction. do you believe that a peaceful transition is possible? i in my point of view it's, it's possible to use this phrase which is a nothing cup and for years and years unsolved, only yours and yours happening if you these. so maybe the few coming these going to be the hope, the future, the piece for all of us here again,

people. and i think there is a chance either the international community with the regional countries try to heavy deal. and trust formation terms, formal a deal between, let's say, is vs. and that's d. c. then all the, the saw furnace of the city and people will and, and everybody, you know, like all of this started with you will be, and i have a book that was a journalist to assign them a homage in come, usually in northeastern syria, osama, we thank you so much for sharing all of your insights and your perspective. thanks for you. and before we go, a quick recap of our top story. the syrian president, bashar assad, has reportedly fled the capital of damascus to an unknown destination. after rebel forces enters a city to limited resistance, the insurgents have declared the city free from

a sons' decades long ruled less than 2 weeks after launching a lightning offensive in the north of the country. you're up to date on the w news. i'm marrying a evans teen. i'll have more headlines for you at the top of the hour from me and the entire news team in berlin. thanks for watching the can you see what old cars have to do with you? production here's a hands on the real media watch now on youtube, the in september 1961 to 17 year olds, mid on the blue wonder bridge.