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even after a red eye. we all use unstopables. looks like he does to! smell unstopable. sounds of gunfire and chants of freedom are heard in central damascus as residents take to the streets in celebration. it is reported that bashar al- assad has led to an unknown location. syrian prime minister says he is willing to hand over the government to the opposition in the peaceful transfer of power and rebels announce the release of four prisoners as a notorious >> was liberated on the outskirts.

there are reports that syria's president bashar al-assad has left the country's capital. syrian rebel forges -- forces say they have captured damascus. the country's prime minister says he's ready to hand over the government to the opposition in a peaceful transfer of power. meanwhile people have gathered in the main square of damascus waving and chanting freedom. good morning to you, alastair. the speed of this rebel offensive has taken the world by shock. bring us up to date with where we stand at the moment. >> the offensive was taken everybody by surprise. the timing of it when it was launched took people by surprise and the rate at which it has progressed >> success they have had every step of the way has been

surprising, as well, but it felt certainly last night i think, inevitable once we saw pictures of rebels on the outskirts of damascus that the 54 years brutal murderous years of sr the family role was coming in to an end and the departure of president assad to an unknown destination i think was pretty much the only outcome left for him. he is not the character that would've stayed to fight, faced with the inevitable move of rebels toward damascus. he had a very weak hand to negotiate with given the major cities had already fallen into the hands of the rebels and so it seems as though he has decided to get out of the country. as i say, we don't know where he is gone too. i think the obvious location would be iran or russia but no confirmation from those

countries yet, just confirmation from the head of the syrian military that bashar al-assad has left syria and with that, huge celebrations on the streets of damascus and on streets up and down the country. we've seen people who are loyal to the regime trying to leave as well, for he will come next for them, but at the moment, the senior members of the rebel factions are saying that they don't want people to harm syrian soldiers who put down their arms. they've warned them to stay away from government buildings today, as well, and there seems to be an attempt at a peaceful transfer of power. that is what the prime minister, who has remained in the country, has offered. there is euphoria on the streets at the moment. it has been decades of disc tater ship the assyrians have lived under, 13 years of ford civil war recently, and finally, that has come to an

end, but amidst that euphoria, we have to also be a bit skeptical and concerned about what might come next. you have had multiple rebel groups announcing on territory at some point there will be decisions made as to who governs syria and who is in charge of security and that is where it could get very messy indeed, particularly as the main rebel group, hts, that has let this charge, had affiliations to al qaeda, affiliations they have since renounced, but still, there are plenty of militants amongst the ranks, and many analysts think that syria's day, syria's future could be very bloody indeed unless this handover of power is managed very carefully.

>> pictures right now of people celebrating. does this now present a new dawn for syria to start from scratch and have a new outlook for the future? >> it is a new dawn this morning, but there are dark clouds on the horizon and we will have to see how to bring the country together. the country has been divided in many ways for many years. it is not simply a binary situation where you have regime- supported areas and rebel- supported areas. there are a large number of kurds in the north, kurdish -controlled areas in the north as well. turkey has been attacking many of those kurdish areas over recent years that have various different rebel factions that have been converging on damascus. you still have significant remnants of islamic states in parts of syria, then you have

external influences like iran and russia, who have pretty much sort of evaporated and left, abandon their asset to his fate over the last week, but retain an interest in stability and keeping their presence in syria going forward. for the russians, they have key military bases on the mediterranean coast. it opens up a part of the world to them that is not easily accessible without those bases. they have invested a lot of blood and money into propping the asset regime up, and that now seems to have been expended without much return. of course, the russians are focused on what is going on in ukraine but they will want to

retain their presence there in some form if they can do. for the iranians, syria was a major key strategic country for them. it was a channel whereby weapons could be funneled to hezbollah over the border in lebanon. hezbollah, of course, themselves severely degraded after a war with israel that has only just ended. a cease- fire. the iranians have been attacked by the israelis, as well. they are somewhat weakened on the back foot so quiet signs that they would prefer to try to talk to the americans about a new nuclear deal and a lifting of sanctions as opposed to getting engaged in any wars but iran has seen this proxy network they have carefully nurtured and built over many years arcing across part of the middle east, being dismantled bit by bit, and this is yet another piece of that network, another piece of that access. >> one last thing, syria's prime minister says he remains in damascus and that he is

willing to help to do what is best for the people with the hope perhaps that there could be potentially a road map to peace in the region. >> well, i think how he is treated and how he is handled will be a key indicator as to what happens in the short-term, at the very least. there will need to be very rapidly some discussion and resolution as to who takes control, at least on an interim level, in syria. there have been calls by rebel groups for people to stay away from government buildings, people not to harm former soldiers of the syrian regime. these all sound encouraging and optimistic on the face of it, but syria has collapsed in rapid time, and what you will now have amongst many syrians is the outpouring of years of

built-up anger, grief, and deep hatred for what they have suffered under the hands of the former regime, and try to control that anger, to contain it, and make sure that there is a peaceful transition and sensible political succession will not be easy whatsoever. >> for now, alistair bunkall, thank you for that context. i want to go live now to our security and defense correspondent who joins us now. what has happened overnight is nothing short of remarkable, the [ inaudible ] machine quickly unraveling. what an -- what is your take on what has happened?

>> reporter: it is extraordinary. this entire move by the rebels just over a week ago now took everybody by surprise including longtime syria watchers, and then the fact that the push has now reached the capital and the president of syria is no longer in sight, people waking up this morning, their heads will be spending in shock as just the rapid pace of all of this turns on its head all of the assumptions about the long- running civil war inside syria. this is a war that has been going on for more than 13 years now, and a war that had largely really stabilized in an unstable and difficult sort of not peace, but normality. we had seen over the last couple of years, really, a begrudging acceptance by other countries in the region that bashar al-assad had survived this extraordinary push

challenge to his regime, which is all part of the arab spring back in 2011, you remember, and only propped up when russia came to his aid. also, iran, and you had hezbollah, as well, helping on the ground. this alliance of support, though, over the last few years , in particular over the last year when it comes to iran and its proxies has been distracted by other wars, other conflicts. russia is very much involved with launching the war in ukraine and its troops very much absorbed by that conflict that is hearing it's -- nearing its third year now and at the same time you've had the war in lebanon and israel's ability to significantly degrade, and hezbollah's fighting capabilities and iran, too, massively under pressure and

also with attention distracted elsewhere and so it seems that the combination of that really did expose the weakness of assad sexual control when it came to defending this extraordinarily organized in terms of their training and ability to move systematically, city by city, then on to damascus by these rebel forces and so yes, a new era opening now in syria and across the middle east but as history has shown us, when it comes to the collapse of strong mineral in the middle east which has endured the dictatorship of a strongman leader only for that to fall away and then the conflicting interests of those were then pushing to take power often leads to further

disaster, sometimes even greater calamity of their own. >> and debra, but now, then, for international watchers? biden has said that he is monitoring developments in syria. we know the president-elect will have his own thoughts on what has been happening, but what is the role the international community now will be playing in the next few days or weeks? >> well, donald trump has made very clear his opinion. he does not want the u.s. to be involved at all, and actually you remember during donald trump's first presidency, he moved to withdraw u.s. forces from syria. there was, at that time, you remember, turkey very much involved or very much concerned about the situation in the syria because of the result of the civil war. there was a huge

influx of refugees that moved across the border into turkey, particularly, a lot of strain on the turkish system to be able to support them has also been a long-running hostilities between turkey and kurdish forces inside syria. and so, in terms of what happens next, it's interesting because the west is fairly sidelined when it comes to what is happening on the ground now in syria. turkey is going to be a really important player. as well, russia. vladimir putin clearly has just seen his key ally disappear, and rebel forces move on the capital. he will be very concerned about the fate of a significant russian naval base and russian airbase inside syria

, presumably he will be wanting to cut deals with whoever does take control inside syria, or else lose strategic bases, which would be a huge loss for russia, given its ability to use syria as a launchpad to, for example, it is this that is the place to be able to deploy militia forces, contractors, private security as well as its own troops in the places across africa and also pose a threat, pose a challenge to european nato allies because they are easily in range from a different geographic location when it comes to russian forces in syria, but from what the u.s. president-elect has said,

the u.s. will not be involved on the ground, but clearly they have a lot of interest in the region, so it is difficult to imagine that they won't be involved in talks that are taking place, but this is going to be a big challenge for the countries in the region, that you have had foreign ministers meeting in qatar yesterday to talk about the crisis, and so it is going to be a big challenge for them to try to help to contain what is going on in syria because the instability there could well spill over into other countries, too. there are no beacons, really, not many beacons of civility in that region, and so there will be a lot of nervousness and a lot of desire to do everything possible to ensure that there is some kind of smooth transition, but as well as this, it is important to remember the role of islamic states in the syria war. the islamic state has not gone away. yes, the rebel forces that are

leading this push now have cut ties, or did cut ties with ias in the past but again this vacuum of security provides the vac -- opportunity for those sorts of forces to regain strength, too, and that is something the u.s. will be interesting in ensuring is not allowed to happen. >> deborah haynes, thank you so much. prime minister mohammad ghazi al-jalali has been speaking this morning. he says i am here in my home, i have not lifted and i do not intend to leave except in a peaceful manner that ensures the continued functioning of public institutions and state facilities, promoting security

and assurance for our fellow citizens. he goes on to say i hope everyone will think rationally and consider their country. we extend our hand even to the opponents who have reached out and affirmed that they have not harmed any individual belonging to this syrian homeland. he goes on to say we believe that syrian -- syria belongs to all syrians and that all of its citizens in this country can be a normal state, one that builds good relations since -- with its neighbors without entering into alliances or blocks. this matter is left to any leadership chosen by the syrian people and we are ready to cooperate with them by providing all possible facilitation. joining me now from georgia, sonny mohammed, head of political risk at the international interest. great to have you with us. a very good morning to you. i wonder, your take there on the prime minister who says actually, syria belongs to the syrians. are you hopeful that what is happening, the developments we are seeing today will lead to a

peaceful syria? >> i think to be honest that part is very much unclear as it stands at this moment in time primarily because it is unclear for the regional powers stand in terms of what is happening. we are seeing, for example, that the russians until now, although they have abandoned assad as an asset, it is unclear where they stand with the new powers that be in damascus. there are concerns over whether turkey has sufficient influence over these new rebel groups that have entered damascus itself and although the iranians have withdrawn the number of their militias, it is unclear to what extent they still remain in the southern parts of syria. it is important to know that in past experience with the arab spring, usually the sitting prime minister does handed -- handle the power. we saw with these others,

handing over power, and i think that in this particular case, i think the transition from this current prime minister to the new powers might be peaceful but it remains to be seen what a new authority looks like given the various different factions and that syria remains geographically very important, strategic, and a country that is not considered one that can be left alone by the regional powers to become independent and it remains to be seen if this results in a somewhat follow-up to what we have seen in libya or whether there will be dialogue like we have seen in tunisia. >> we were surprised by the speed of this rebel offensive. >> i think everybody was taken by surprise by the speed of the offensive and i think a number of factors contributed. it is important to note this is not the first time rebels were able to threaten bashar al- assad. they were able to do so in 2013 and 2015. in both cases, the assad regime, but it was on the verge of falling it was the russians and iranians who rushed in to rescue him and it appears the state was never able to be rebuilt. assad remained heavily dependent on the russians and iranians. the iranians have been weakened

by the israelis and the proxies are being hurt by the lack of public support that they have within syria itself, and i think the second dynamic is that the russians got so concerned with ukraine and perhaps they were lulled into this perception that syria was becoming a frozen conflict and therefore it was no longer a priority. it is important to remember that over the past seven months what we saw was a set of the anticipation of any offensive, there was a view in the region that perhaps assad was going to stay and it was time to rehabilitate bashar al-assad. saudi arabia had rehabilitated him into the arab league . again of turkey as well as coming out and saying he wanted to talk with bashar al-assad. russia was talking about how to pressure assad to come and sit at the table to negotiate.

there was talk maybe the u.s. would agree to abstain in power if he would give the kurds in the northeastern autonomous region. the general sense of discussion was that assad was staying. he won't be able to take all of syria but negotiations would revolve around him staying and so the rapid response of these rebels who displayed agency of their own in taking everybody by surprise i think the weakness of the iranian militias allowed the rebels to march unopposed and assad was unable to call on those allies and there were reports that he was making desperate pleas to the u.s. and israelis promising to abandon iran if they swooped in and rescued him because the iranians did not have the power to rescue him either. we saw the proxy militias in iraq refused to cross over and go to syria to help bashar al- assad, a sort of recognition on part of the iranians that they no longer have the power to keep bashar al-assad and therefore, assad, who is dependent on foreign support to stay in power , in the absence of foreign support, it fell like a spider's web.

>> what do we know about this terror group, this rebel group rather, that are leading this latest drive in syria? >> i think when you look at them it has been a checkered history but one in which there does appear to be some sort of moderation or reformation. in the past he announced allegiance to al qaeda them turned against them and eradicated them then went to eradicate isis and syria as well and reform himself as a leader although he was [ inaudible ] over the years as more and more syrians were kicked out and sent northward it appears that his manner of governance changed and he was able to establish a broad

coalition that expands not just among muslims but and others and he was able to establish this broad coalition to such an extent that when his forces entered, you saw videos of christians celebrating onto the streets. we saw statements coming out from jolani saying that -- >> we seem to have -- i think we will have to leave it there and move on now and take a look at what is happened over the last few days but we might be able to go back to sammy. we are going to go back to sammy. >> yes, i can hear you. >> sorry we lost connection there. i wonder if it is now time to reflect on the end of brutal terror, the assad regime and what that means for the people of syria.

>> i think it is important to know that the assad regime is considered one of the most brutal in the region. some of the prisons they had were notorious and it remains to be seen some of the testimonies of those prisoners who have been released, some of them coming out and not even realizing damascus has been liberated from bashar al-assad. there is euphoria on the street not necessarily because of the rebel groups but the i dia that assad is gone now a new chapter can be opened in history. more than 50 years of one-party rule. bashar al-assad and his father, as well. syrians now see an opportunity at least to dictate their fate and more importantly, to be able to do so away from international powers. the u.s. looks like it is in disarray with regard to syria, trump coming out and saying he does not want to intervene. the israelis are not sure what to do. they preferred a syria that remained in crisis and are concerned that the democratic syria might not be as is really- leaning. there is concern, lisa syrians believe there is enough agency

in order to be able to dictate their fate moving forward and they will hope that now that assad is gone and there is a decisive victory for the rebels, perhaps they will be able to dictate the future on their own terms and that the terms of the international powers who were in the revolution in 2013 all coming in with competing visions of what syria look like. they syrians hope that this time it is not obama who will impose a vision or any other regional power, just maybe this time it might be the syrians who decide their own fate in the process of how to move forward and if syria acts as a model there will be concern in the region that other authoritarian regimes will fear that if syria becomes a model for people can topple a dictator syria might be the beginning of a domino effect over renewed arab spring for the people finally decide that perhaps the country is supposed to serve them and not the minority elite. >> on that note, thank you so much. great and fascinating insight into this fascinating story.

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these are the latest scenes for you in central damascus. as we have heard, two senior syrian army officers have informed the writers his agency that president bashar al-assad has left the country by plane to an unknown destination. this follows claims by syrian rebels saying they have captured the capital city, and we have also heard that damascus international airport has been abandoned, with people being seen leaving earlier. meanwhile, pictures appear to show a number of military positions abandoned with suggestions syrian troops are starting to flee. rebels also say they have

entered the notorious military prison north of the capital and freed prisoners there. the syrian government has detained thousands of people there. >> let's take a look back at what is happened over the last few days then. until recently there had been a static division of control between three fractions of rebels led by the infamous group not meant, president assad's forces and kurdish troops to the north. rebels begin their offensive from the province of italy which for years had been the last antigovernment regime stronghold in syria. they have been moved to syria second city taking it in just three days then in syria they dealt another blow to assad's regime as they pushed into the city of assad . had already

taken nearby towns on the advance and now, rebels have captured damascus, president assad seat of power, forcing the president to flee. >> this is a developing story overnight and into the early morning. what a view taken from this story so far, the speed of this rebel offensive i'm sure will be at the top of your list. >> just incredible developments over the last week. for the rebels to be able to take syria's second largest city of aleppo and now damascus is incredible. this is nothing short of a political earthquake in the heart of the middle east and

what happens in syria does not stay in syria. to draw a parallel, this is a moment similar to the toppling of [ inaudible ] in 2003. [ inaudible ] on the borders of israel where hezbollah depends on syria for its logistical lifeline from iran, and of course iraq itself on the eastern frontier, so what happens in syria does not stay in syria, and first and foremost, this is a moment for the syrians who have suffered under some five decades of [ inaudible ] syrian role and today are getting a taste of

freedom for the first time. >> we are seeing scenes from damascus, a celebration, people chanting freedom. do you think this is the beginning of a new dawn for the people of syria, or is it too early to make that assessment? >> i do think it is a moment of great opportunity, but it is also a moment of some peril. it is a moment of great opportunity because for the majority of syria, they are liberated from a regime that under the mantra of freedom and unity in socialism, has oppressed and impoverished its people, and under the mantra of liberating palestine and resisting israel in fact, purchase and imprisons thousands and thousands not only of syrians, but also palestinian refugees in syria and lebanese were syria ran large and dominated and occupied for many years, so there is no doubt that this is a moment of great euphoria for many, not just in syria but also in neighboring countries but also a moment of potential

peril because there are some in syria, particularly minority communities, christians, , who worried that the background of the majority of these rebels will mean you have a much more conservative and perhaps even authoritarian rule under these rebel forces. so, it is a moment of potential opportunity but also one of consternation for some. >> not all remnants of the old regime still in place. we have heard from the prime minister saying there will be this peaceful handover of power transition. do you think that marks a hope for the future, that there will be an agreement that actually syria, as he says, was for the syrians? >> this is certainly a positive development that we have a prime minister under the old regime here clearly communicating with rebel forces

in hope of a more orderly transition of power, but one has to say that syria is also a play in graham, an arena for regional and international powers. russia has an air force and the naval base there. these rebels are neighboring turkey. iran has loomed large and historically back to the assad regime so that orderly transition will also depend on a series of regional understandings , and where i am today and the hub, the leaders of many of these countries have in fact been meeting to chart a path and help syria move forward in a relatively stable way so there is a lot at stake but the signs of orderly communication between the prime minister and rubble forces is

hopeful. >> do you think this is a big loss for russia and allies of the assad regime? >> when it comes to russia we are going to have to wait and see. what stands out here's the statement issued yesterday by president-elect donald trump where he basically said that the u.s. and his coming administration would want nothing to do with syria and are not part of this. this is in part a message of reassurance for russia that the u.s. does not intend to challenge its geopolitical foothold in syria. historically with them that russia and previously soviet sphere of influence but certainly the biggest loser of all here is iran. iran, which depended on syria as an ally but also as a gateway to lebanon, where it's most formidable ally,

hezbollah, looms largest. first line of defense really against israel, where it has invested billions of dollars over some 40 years in propping up, training, and arming that group so i run today very clearly on its back foot as the result of the events in syria and perhaps iran, the week is that we have seen since the islamic resolution -- revolution , in terms of the ability to project's ability beyond its borders. >> once ordinary people go back to their homes, carry on with their day, what happens next in the coming hours and days? i'm quite interested in your take on what we might see develop. >> yeah, that is a big question. there will be a moment of euphoria that will be with us for several days. there certainly needs to be a consolidation of power by these rebel forces. so far, they seem to indicate that they want the continuity

of government. they want bureaucrats. even the ministers were in place right now to continue to carry on the functions of government but for syrians, beyond the hope of freedom, of releasing thousands and thousands of political prisoners inside infamous facilities throughout syria, there will be the question of rebuilding. there will be the question of restarting an economy that has been reeling under sanctions. many syrians simply cannot even afford heating oil or fuel or bread, and so the rebel forces, with neighboring and friendly countries, will have to contend with these daily bread-and- butter issues that will certainly be on the minds of many syrians. >> okay, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> my pleasure. >> let's take a look at bashar al-assad's tenure as syrian president . he became president

in 2000 following the death of his father, adding a political system dominated by the baath party and political sources. in 2005 the assassination of the prime minister led to allegations of syrian involvement forcing syria to withdraw troops from lebanon after 49 years of occupation. in march 2011 this was part of the arab spring, escalated into a civil war after a government crackdown on demonstrators. in 2012, any western arab countries severed diplomatic ties in syria was suspended

from the arab league over its handling of the uprising. in 2014, the islamic state expanded its control in syria during the war. meanwhile, assad was elected in a controversial election held only in government -controlled areas. in 2015, russia launched airstrikes in syria and support of assad shifting the balance of power. in the conflict, bolstering the regime, syrian government forces backed by russia and iran retake aleppo. in 2016, a stronghold marking pivotal moments in the war then between 2018 and 2021, assad's forces regained most of the country with russian and iranian support. despite ongoing skirmishes, cease-fires in some areas reduced active fighting. after more than a decade of isolation, assad's regime is readmitted to the arab league shifting politics and normalizing operations. this morning, reports came in that syrian president bashar al- assad has fled damascus. earlier we heard from a journalist in the capital.

>> reporter: in the quiet of the evening today we are seeing a number of really stunning events we haven't seen in years. we've seen president assad flee with his entourage . we've seen damascus, the capital city, fall to the rebels, completely almost for the first time in 15 years. there is still fighting ongoing in the city. i can still hear gunfire and the occasional explosion but apart from that i can safely tell that by the morning, the hold of the capital will be under control of the rebels and this will probably harold a new dawn for syria which is something people have been pushing towards and it has culminated in this offensive and damascus which was really supported by people within

damascus themselves taking to the streets and picking up arms and taking this to another level. there is a lot of anger. a lot of people are starving, people who are fed up with the long years of war, with the lack of development in the country and definitely, change was on the agenda and the loss of syrian army morale, we've seen in army positions. we've seen soldiers literally just take off their military attire and wear civilian clothes, escaping anywhere to safety. we are seeing chaos today and something which was completely unexpected, no one ever predicted things would happen in this particular way. the chaos of it all is really something to take in this evening and we are looking for a new syria now, something that is one population, a lot of people from different sides have to come together and see where this goes ahead. been a powerful remnants from the old regime are still here and will probably be willing to play a part in taking the country forward but when the

fighting stops, which should be soon, you will find the city united here. >> well, turkey, which borders syria, supports some of the rebels in the country's president has been public about where he stands on the latest development, saying a few days ago, he hoped the rebels would continue their advances. now there is a new reality in syria following the rapid advance of anti-government forces. >> translator: everyone must now see and accept this truth. there is no new reality in syria politically and diplomatically and syria belongs to the syrians with all of its ethnic sectarian and religious elements. it is the syrian people who will decide on the future of their own country. >> let's go to westminster and speak to our political correspondent. amanda, have we heard any response from the uk government just yet? >> no, nothing formal yet from the foreign office. we know the prime minister is due to fly off to the middle

east today for meetings in the uae and saudi arabia, which would be focused on boosting trade between the uk in the region but clearly i think this is a sign of how easily domestic priorities can be overtaken by global geopolitical events and i'm sure if the visit goes ahead indeed it will focus on concerns about the instability in the region. the middle east minister has been in bahrain as well over the last two days signing a security pact there so clearly the uk government will have a real focus on this. last week, they issued a statement jointly with the u.s., france, and germany calling for the protection of civilians, de-escalation and a syrian-led the solution to the conflict so i imagine they will be reiterating that kind of message later on. we also know the uk government has donated 3000 pounds to the

white helmet humanitarian group calling for the support of their work protecting civilians and former foreign office minister alastair burke has been tweeting this morning in response to the messaging talking about their teams going back into places they have been displaced from and saying that the uk will be supporting them in their efforts to rebuild their country. i think there will be some real areas of concern. first, the impact on global security and stability, what this means for russia, the war in ukraine, israel and the middle east more widely, the prospect of a fractured islamist government there, potential for other terror groups of as we have seen in other places around the world. during the growth of instability there and of course

last time this conflicts escalated, we saw this huge wave of migration of refugees which had major political impacts across europe and i think that is something the prime minister will certainly be focusing on today. >> okay. amanda, for now, thanks so much. let's go live now to associate professor in contemporary history and politics of the middle east. good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us here on sky news. i just want to get your reaction first of all for a fast-moving developments. indeed, president assad is on a plane to an unknown location. >> i think history repeats itself. that was the end of iran in 1978 where authoritarian regimes can't survive. the people decided they no longer can be accepted. what you are witnessing is the end of 10 days of basically a military operation done by the opposition, the opponents of the regime, where they were able to control cities and so

4:00 a.m. this morning, they controlled damascus and then after that, we started hearing that bashar al-assad had left. i have to say we have conflicted reports. there is no confirmation that he has left . i think there are sort of assumptions, but what we are seeing basically is an outcome of a lot of efforts done. i am not saying secrets when i say turkey is the center of all of this. turkey was involved in one way or another because most of those opponents basically they were in areas where they had good ties with turkey. turkey also suffered around 2.5 syrian -- million syrian refugees. i think turkey has a great interest to see a strong, solid government where they can return those refugees to their country and have also security and stability when it comes to

the kurdish option. i think what we are seeing is an outcome of all of these efforts in the last 10 years and the end of 30 years of ruling syria in a very authoritarian way, killing, jailing, people disappearing and more than 10 million people were displaced because of this government. >> yes, of course i understand what you are saying. a big challenge for the countries in the region. >> yes. those i am meeting yesterday were basically the platform which turkey, iran and russia in addition to five arab countries, some of which neighbor syria, last night meeting it was a debate about the day after and the end of

the meeting at 4:00 a.m. was just two or three hours. it was obvious that these countries wanted to make sure there is a government which can basically stabilize the country. it seems that the behavior of those groups so far have sent three messages. one, they have no intention to have revenge of any groups. they want a unified syria for all syrians and they want to have ties with neighboring countries and have no interest to have conflicts. that's the message to israel. that's the message to americans in iran and europeans and more importantly, they want syria to come back. that is the message to europeans, to uk, we want our people to come back to the country and unburden those governments.

>> okay, great. thank you so much. let's get more reaction to the developing situation in syria this morning. thanks so much for joining us. martina, let me start with you. what i'm getting from many of the guests i am talking to is that there is hope, essentially, but eventually there could be a pathway to a stable syria, a syria for the syrians. >> absolutely. it's interesting to hear from your guest just now saying that there is lots of speculation about where assad might be right now, now this report saying he has fled the country to an unknown location. my bet would be that he is in russia right now but you know, lots of reports last night and the last few days saying we should not underestimate president assad's instinct for survival. he is the same man who during the civil war dropped 82,000

barrel bombs on civilians. 400,000 people died during the civil war so is he really going down without a fight? that is the question, really. >> yes, the brutal regime assad placed on his own people for many years, and this will be a moment for lots of people. we are saying the pictures and damascus of people celebrating. immediately, it will be a celebration but there will be fear and confusion about what might happen next. >> absolutely. we have to remember it is not just the 24 years of assad's rule. his father was also in charge before him so he had pretty much over 50 years of the same authoritarian rule in syria but although he was controversial and although lots of people are celebrating at the moment, it does not mean there is not some hesitation. obviously the opposition is also quite controversial. some of these groups affiliate with al qaeda and the leader of the isys group as well as also

involved in setting up some of these opposition groups so there is some concern still that this instability will continue, just in a slightly different way so definitely the question is what will come next. will the stability, and will they manage to have a peaceful and democratic handover of power like they claim they will? >> the stability of the region was turned upside down for many years, and what it meant was lots of syrians fled to places like germany, jordan, heading to the refugee camp in george -- jordan speaking to mainly children who left their homes. what they said to me was that they hope to go back to their homes, to pick up their toys, to go back to their home from school. what does this mean then do you think for people who have fled, about returning to their homes at some point? >> that is a very big question right now because i think there is a test that says here out of

which regime is going to mean that people are going to flee the country and right now, it looks like under assad, lots of people had fled the country but can we trust the new regime? probably not because as alecia said, it is a regime that was affiliated with al qaeda. they say they are no longer but we don't know what that is going to look like yet so there are many questions what the implications will be for the wider region but also for the west. >> you made a good point actually about president assad. the reuters agency is saying president assad is on his plane to an unknown location, may be russia. what do you make of the role of his allies and what they are saying or what they are not saying right now? >> the two main allies of assad

obviously iran and russia both of which are tied up in very large conflicts elsewhere at the moment so timing -wise, it's going to be quite difficult for assad because these two people he normally would rely on, these two states he normally would lean on in a time like this are how going to have their focus elsewhere at the moment so maybe he has gone to one of these regions were he knows that is probably the safest place he could be at the moment but in terms of the attention being drawn to syria and what is happening for him and his position, i can't really see russia or iran putting as much focus as maybe they would had they not been tied up in their own conflicts at the moment. >> do you think this will be top agenda in the coming weeks? >> i think [ inaudible ] would be on the airwaves in the morning been asked about this and it will be interesting to see what the incoming donald

trump administration will do because he is already saying he does not want to get involved but what does he mean about not getting involved? we talked about the civil war and what it meant for refugees. if there is an unstable situation in syria that would mean thousands of refugees coming to the uk. >> more from us after the break. the break. with circle to search. even if your phone is old or dated, you can turn it in at verizon for gifts for you and the family. for a limited time get galaxy s24+, watch and tab. all three on us. that's up to $1,900 in value. survive the holidays with samsung. powered by verizon. still have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis... ...or crohn's disease symptoms after taking... ...a medication like humira or remicade? put them in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down,... ...i got lasting remission with rinvoq. check. and many were in remission... ...even at nearly 2 years. and rinvoq... ...helped visibly reduce damage

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good morning. it is 7:00. breaking news. syrian rebel forces say president bashar al-assad has fled the country and that they have captured the capital. sounds of gunfire and chance of freedom heard in central damascus as residents take to the streets in celebration. rebel forces say president assad has fled to an unknown location, potentially ending his 24-year rule. syria's prime minister says he is ready to hand over the government to the opposition in a peaceful transition of power. rebels announce the release of all prisoners as the notorious labor -- military jail was liberated on the outskirts of the capital. good morning. we are starting with that breaking news, syrian rebel forces say they have captured

damascus and ousted syrian president bashar al-assad who has fled the capital. meantime, the country's prime minister says he is ready to hand over power to the opposition in a peaceful transition of power. people in the main square of damascus weaving and chanting freedom. here is our correspondent, alistair bunkall. >> reporter: it is all over, 54 years of brutal assad dynasty role has come to an end. the streets of damascus have erupted in celebration. president assad has fled the country and the capital has fallen. political prisoners have been freed from the country's notorious jails. this appears to show prisoners leaving the military prison. the syrian army has abandoned its post. rebel commanders have warned

people not to harm them. rebels only reached the outskirts of damascus yesterday afternoon. this happened a few miles from the center of the syrian capital. a statue of syria's last leader was pulled down. the rebels sensed that victory was in the sites but this has happened more quickly than anyone predicted. >> translator: dear brothers, we are living in the final moments of the liberation of the city of hama . this is the historic event that will distinguish between truth and falsehood. we advise our brothers in the resistance as we have previously advised them, to show compassion for the people. those who lay down their weapons should be granted safety. >> reporter: syrian government forces seem to be fleeing. the military government basin hama was abandoned and regime soldiers are abandoning their posts. they are seen changing out of the military fatigues into civilian clothing and fading into the population.

every building in town square the rebels take, symbols and images of the regime are being torn down as syria faces a new and unknown reality. the coming hours and days will be crucial. not just for the future of syria, but for wider middle east stability. alistair bunkall, sky news. >> these are the latest pictures from damascus of rebel forces celebrating. let's go live to our middle east correspondent, alistair bunkall, who joins me now. alastair, syria clearly at a crossroads now. could this go either way?

>> yes. i think what we are seeing right now is an understandable outpour of emotion and euphoria . it is hard to overstate just how brutal and murderous the assad dynasty has been over many decades of rule in syria. they have locked away thousands of people as political prisoners and they have killed tens of thousands of opponents to the regime. that is all over. president assad has left the country. the assad role has come to an end. what happens next is entirely unclear . who governs syria, who takes over security for syria is an unknown. there are some positives and signs for optimism, but only early signs. the leader of the main rebel group has told syrians not to

approach government buildings, for example, attack nor deface them. they have been told not to attack soldiers of the syrian regime if they lay down their arms. they want this to be a syria for all people. syria is a very divided country geographically, and socially. when this euphoria does diane, and it will do over coming days, what could emerge is an enormous amount of anger and hatred toward the people who perpetrated crimes against many syrian civilians. how that is controlled will be key, and then there is the geographical question, and syria is not divided into two. it is divided many ways.

you have kurdish factions in the northeast, for example. you have multiple rebel factions, all of which have led their own charges on damascus. everybody, i assume, will want a slice of the power that is now up for grabs, and that will have to be marshaled very carefully indeed if syria is not going to see it self entering a new phase of civil war. one other optimistic thing we should take from this is that this rebel advance has come without much bloodshed. there would have been great fears, particularly when they entered damascus late yesterday, that the assad regime would stay and they would fight and it would become a vicious fight for ownership of capital. that is not happened. assad has fled . his backers, iran and russia, abandoned him, and it has not been a bloodless coup but it has been far less violent than perhaps we might have feared. >> what should we take from syria's prime minister saint he is ready to hand over the

opposition. he is saying he wants a peaceful transition of power. >> cynically, he would say that because he is now in a corner, and his hold on power as well has also gone but he has remained in the country. he said he will go to his office today and he has reached out with that all of branch to the rebels and so i think how he is handled will be key in setting the tone for what comes next. you know, if he is dragged out of office physically and unceremoniously then you know, that could be an indicator that there will be a ruthlessness to the takeover of power, but if his offer for a peaceful transition is taken up and the rebels can find some orderly way to do it, then i think that will set the tone for what comes next. >> okay. for now, thank you.

let's go to the security defense minister deborah haynes. we are seeing some encouraging early signs that the transition of power can be managed. i want to talk about the serious threat that still remains for syria, though. >> yes. this is not by any stretch a normal transition of power. this is a violent takeover in the culmination of 13 years of violent civil war, and it was the assad regime's brutality cracking down on what were initially peaceful protests against his rule, against his dictatorship which rose up back in 2011 with people coming to

the streets across the region. you remember it started in tunisia. there was the uprising in libya and what happened there with the downfall of the qaddafi regime and syria, too, assad facing the same kind of peaceful protest on the street, wanting change , push to democracy than what followed the was increasingly violent crackdowns by the assad regime against these protesters and then the spread of different rebel factions that emerged in this security backing. as you will remember those different groups linked to al qaeda, linked to islamic state which was this new group that grew up in the security vacuum across iraq and syria wanting to create a [ inaudible ] and you will remember the horrific brutality

on that side that was perpetrated against people, and now the lead group in this uprising now that has successfully seen to the end of the assad regime , hayat tahrir al-sham, they have their roots historically with al qaeda and then islamic state, but since about 2015, 2016, they have cut ties with that terrorist group and have sought to present themselves as a rebel group against the syrian regime and i think what happens next really does center around how that group and its leader chooses to move following the successful and relatively bloodless push on the capital, which is frankly extraordinary

if you look back to just over 10 years ago, 2013 when bashar al-assad was using chemical weapons against his people in a bloody crackdown against defense backed by iran, backed by russia. russia in 2015 moved into syria in terms of actual forces helping support the assad regime. it is a country that has endured unspeakable violence and i think now people will be holding their breath to see if groups that have endured such horrors and seen such horrific attacks by the assad regime against libyans in that country, whether they are going to be able to contain what must be obviously pure hatred

against what they have endured, to be able to have that transition of power in a peaceful way that does not then seek vengeance, and if that is possible, and of course there is a chance for that, then what comes next could potentially be transition to a more peaceful syria, but is a huge move fraught with danger, given the different factions and interests that are as -- at play. and as well as that you have russia still. it has a big naval base in the country. it has a big air base in the country. how is vladimir putin going to respond to this changed reality? presumably he will want to be very quickly trying to make friends with who ever does decide to take power, but given his closeness to the atrocities committed by the assad regime, that is going to be very

difficult , but it will be obviously very important to see what happens there. >> you make a good point there. rebel forces are saying that president assad is on a plane to an unknown location. what can we expect, do you think, from assad's allies, particularly in russia? this will be a huge blow for them and also iran. >> i mean you know, waking up this morning to a changed reality in a key country in the middle east and also a changed reality in terms of those huge power moves that vladimir putin put into place back in 2015 when he moved to support bashar al-assad -- before that, 2013. syria has been a strategic satellite for russia. russia uses its military bases

in that country to project power across that region and to deploy forces into africa where it is able again to expand its influence, so it would be wanting to see those bases so surely you would imagine they will be trying to work out how best to protect their interests but russia currently is very stretched in ukraine. it has launched a full-scale war there and is trying right now to put maximum pressure on ukrainian forces to capture or recapture more land against the ukrainian pushback before donald trump takes power so this is all happening at a moment of extraordinary fluctuations with global power balances anyway and at the same time, i ran again and syria has been a fundamental part in iran's axis of influence across the region and yet for iran,

they have for the last more than a year now been under huge pressure given israel's offensive against its allies, hamas in gaza and hezbollah in lebanon and directly against iran, too, so there were reports a couple of days ago of iran moving its military commanders out of syria, and the irdc has been fundamental in backing up assad and also syria has been a useful location for iran to be able to smuggle weapons to its militia groups across the region and so has lost the ability to use syria and in that way will be a huge blow for a run, so how is it going to be able to readjust to this new reality? it is extraordinary. it's hard to come up with the

right words for what is happening on the ground and the implications for that regionally. i think experts also are scratching their heads and holding their breath as to what comes next. >> deborah haynes, thank you so much. we will cut touch base with you in the coming morning. let's take a look at bashar al- assad's tenure as syrian president. bashar al-assad became president in 2000 following the death of his father, inheriting a political system dominated by security forces. in 2005 the assassination of the former prime minister elect with allegations of syrian involvement forcing syria to withdraw troops from lebanon after 29 years of occupation. the arab spring escalated into the civil war after a sands government crackdown on demonstrators. in 2012, western and arab

countries severed diplomatic ties with assad regime in syria was suspended from the arab league over its handling of the uprising. in 2014, the islamic state expanded its control and syria during the war. meanwhile, assad was re-elected in a controversial election held only in government -controlled areas. in 2015, russia launched airstrikes in syria in support of assad shifting the balance of power in the conflict and bolstering the regime. syrian government forces backed by russia and iran taken over in 2016, a major rebel stronghold marking a pivotal moment in the war. between 2018 and 2021, assad's forces regained most of the country with russian and iranian support despite ongoing skirmishes, cease-fires in some areas produced active fighting.

after more than a decade of isolation, assad's regime is readmitted to the arab spring league in 2023 signaling a shift in regional politics and an effort to normalize relations and then this morning, reports come in , syrian president bashar al- assad has fled damascus. thanks so much for your time this morning for breakfast. your thoughts on what we are seeing in the last few hours? >> first to just reflect on what alistair bunkall said and then deborah haynes. first with respect to the prime minister of the assad regime basically yes, he did yesterday say that he would continue to assume his responsibilities but actually this morning, a faction from the rebels from the south raided his home and they took him to the four seasons hotel in damascus that

was just minutes ago, to discuss the transitional period, something the prime minister said he is open to discussing. another thing i think with respect to what deborah said, the way i view what happened is kind of different. i think what happened, starting from the 27th of november until now, i think, has been broadly arranged by some of the key actors in this conflict. i think at least russia and turkey have planned for this to happen. we have more than enough evidence to actually think that the u.s. is also part of this and they have been informed of what is happening in the biggest loser by far is iran. it is iran that is being squeezed out of the country but we are not seeing military confrontations during the conflict, and the reason why we are actually here is the fact that everyone is sick of assad.

quite simply it is not only the people, not only that he is killed over 90% of the casualties during the conflict against his own people. it is his political intransigence that is actually been disturbing to his allies and foes alike, so russia has been basically trying to push bashar al-assad to work out a political agreement with turkey and bashar al-assad has been refusing , you know. he did not want that to happen in part because of pressure from the iranians. his relationship also with his second ally, the iranians, has also been very tense recently because he wanted him to take a more active role in the operations against israel, and bashar al-assad was trying to distance himself as much as possible so bashar al-assad was trying to position himself as a powerbroker in the region , as someone who is in between these various global and

regional actors, thinking that he has the leverage to do that, and what happened instead is these powers just deciding to just dispose of them altogether. >> what are your main concerns moving forward for syria? the reuters news agency is saying that a diplomatic adviser to the uae saying the main concern for them about syria is extremism and terrorism. what do you make of that? >> i think this is one of the concerns. there are many other concerns, so i think one of the main ones is actually what happens to northeast syria which is at the moment, controlled by the syrian democratic forces which are backed by the united states. they are in control of the main natural resources of the country , the oil and gas and it is not clear yet what the position is from all of these recent

developments. i think extremism is definitely a concern and that is something turkey has been trying to us was for so long. hts has indeed changed its public record, it's behavior on the ground. in its recent operations they have been very transparent. they have been open to people from different sects, from different religions, even people who have sided with the syrian regime for so long, they are taking a very easy approach with them but still, it is a concern. hayat tahrir al-sham is headed by the globally designated terrorist [ inaudible ]. that is two of many challenges, economic, societal and many more. >> what do you make of the role moving forward of russia and iran? >> i think i run is out.

iran is out for good and that is what the russians have actually agreed to do with the help of the rebels who are backed by turkey. there is no way turkey did not give the green light to opposition forces in the northwest at the start of this operation, formally associated with al qaeda or the syrian national army. they're both backed by turkey and both started after being given the green light from turkey although turkey insists that did not happen. i think for a run there out. for russian now is the key question. i would believe that turkey has given them enough assurances that their main strategic assets in the country, that is the airbase and the port, the base they have, i think these

two assets will continue to be operated by them. i think that is something the opposition, at least the factions on the ground, have agreed to. obviously all of those plans often change as things on the ground also evolve, so what is going to happen politically, what type of settlement we are actually looking at, i think all of that is still up in the air but it looks like many of the actors on the ground have actually matured quite a lot during the conflict. many of them are being very inclusive. they are trying to accept others with open arms. let's hope that this atmosphere continues. >> in your opinion, who do you think are the other big players watching what is happening, at least the u.s. and president- elect trump? >> i think the u.s. has been trying to distance itself from this conflict for so long,

their approach has been just muddling through. they do not want to be involved in this conflict. in fact, the number of u.s. troops on the ground in syria is believed to be less than 1000 altogether, you know. i think there are other actors that are much more interested in syria vis-@-vis israel and syria's neighbors. you know, for turkey, the issue of syrian refugees, turkey host to the largest number of refugees in the world and that is nearly 4 million syrian refugees so that issue has become a defining issue for internal politics in turkey. for jordan and lebanon, these two countries are also struggling economically. they also have a very large number of syrians and they would like to see them go back home and actually for these neighbors, they are the ones who are interested in the more sustainable development in syria like stability, you know, in syria, that everyone

believed or came to believe recently that quite simply cannot be obtained under the rule of bashar al-assad because he was a maximalist. he just wanted to have everything to himself. what israel would do going forward i think is yet to be seen. for israel, it is pretty clear as long as you do not threaten us, we are not going to attack, but if we smell a threat from anywhere coming from syria, we will just bomb and we will bomb immediately. >> okay, really fascinating to get your take on this developing story. thank you so much. let's take you to some live pictures. this is the lebanon-syria border, people waking up to the new reality of the toppling of president assad and what that will mean for people living close to that border . as we

take a look back at what has actually happened over the past few days, it has been fast- moving. until recently there had been a static division of control between the three fractions, the rebels led by the islamic group, hayat tahrir al-sham, bashar al-assad's forces and the kurdish troops to the north. rebels begin their offensive from the province of idlib. they then moved west into aleppo, taking it in just three days. on thursday, they dealt another blow to assad's regime as they pushed south into the city of hama. yesterday, rebels saw the country's third biggest city of homs. now, rebels claimed to have captured damascus, president

assad's seat of power, forcing the president to flee. earlier we heard from a journalist in damascus. >> in the evening in damascus today we are seeing a number of really stunning events which we have not seen in years. we have seen president assad flea along with his entourage on the ruling elite in the country. we have seen damascus, the capital city, fall to the rebels completely almost for the first time in 15 years. there is still fighting ongoing within the city. i can still hear gunfire and the occasional explosion but apart from that, i can safely tell you by the morning, the whole of the capital will be under the control of the rebels and this will probably herald a new dawn for syrians. this is something people have been pushing towards and has culminated in this offensive in damascus which was really

actually supported by people within damascus themselves taking to the streets and picking up arms and taking this to another level. there is a lot of anger. there are a lot of people starving. people who were fed up with the long years of war, the lack of development in the country and definitely change was on the agenda, and the loss of syrian army moral, we've seen army positions be abandoned. we seen soldiers literally take off their military attire and wear civilian clothes, escaping anywhere to safety. we have seen chaos today and something which was completely unexpected. no one ever envisaged that things would happen in this particular way. you know, the sheer chaos of it all is really something to take in this evening and we are looking for a new syria now, something that is one population. a lot of people from different sides have to come together and see whether this goes ahead. we know remnants of the old regime are still here and they will probably be willing to play a part in taking the

country forward but when the fighting starts, which should be very soon, you will find the city united here. >> still to come on the breakfast show, syrian rebel forces say they have captured damascus and ousted president assad. damascus and ousted pre assad.

>> welcome back to sky news breakfast. rebel forces say president bashar al-assad has fled damascus and that they have captured the capital. the country's prime minister says he is ready to hand over the government to the opposition in a peaceful transition of power. meanwhile, the pull of gathered in the main square of damascus, waving enchanting freedom. let's take you through what happened, as we know, overnight. these are the latest scenes in central damascus. rebels say president bashar al- assad has left the capital via

plane to an unknown destination . syrian rebels said they have captured the capital city. we have also heard that damascus international airport has been abandoned with people seen leaving earlier. meanwhile, pictures appear to show a number of military positions abandoned, suggesting syrian troops are starting to flee. rebels also say they have entered the notorious military sednaya prison prison north of the capital and the freed prisoners there. the syrian government has detained thousands of people there, too. the syrian prime minister has been speaking this morning. let's take a listen to what he has been saying. >> this country can be a normal country, a country that builds good relations with its neighbors and with the world.

that entry into regional alliances. we will leave this matter to any new leadership chosen by the syrian people and we are ready to cooperate with any new leadership and facilitate what they need so various government departments can be transferred smoothly and systematically in a way that preserves state facilities. >> joining now is the director of the syrian conflict research program. thank you so much for joining us and for your time this morning. the prime minister there just saying he hopes that syria can be, his quote, a normal country. what are your hopes and reflections this morning for syria? >> i do hope for a more democratic and civil country to emerge out of this country that includes all its people, the country where we see a process that heals the wounds of the war

and when so existed before the war but immediate concerns are with protection and prevention of chaos. we need protection for the people. there are still lots of weapons around and we need protection of all state institutions and to prevent looting and ensure a smart transition of power. >> what has life been like for ordinary syrians over the last 13 years? >> it has been immensely difficult. even if you have not been directly hit by the conflict, like if you did not have anyone in your family killed or yourself injured or imprisoned, you are living through extremely difficult everyday life. the economy was in ruins. the salaries were hardly sufficient for a few days and

you are disconnected from the rest of the world. everyone did not want to know about syria. it was difficult to get in and out of the country, when suddenly syria is coming to the fore. it is just unbelievable. what is historic day we are witnessing. it's going to take time to sink in, but it has been a dramatic overnight change, you know, from very dull and miserable streets and homes to suddenly streets bursting with joy. people still can't believe and to early hours in the morning, their celebrating. there are those who however we are still very concerned about, their loved ones who are imprisoned by the previous syrian regime. i can't believe we now say ex- president but i'm getting lots of messages now from others say no, do you know about my son, any idea if all the prisoners from this prison have been released, so everyone is trying

to find their loved ones, so my heart is with all of those people until they find their friends and relatives. >> and of course, the end of a brutal regime of terror from president assad. what does that look like for the women you have spoken to over the years? >> everyone is so relieved, so happy, but they are also anxious about what is going to come ahead, so once that initial moment of joy fades away or it doesn't, we are going to ask what is next. his going to rule? we don't want another dictator. the impression i got from everyone, men and women, they are not going to put up with any new dictatorship, anyone who is trying to impose power on them, and i think the international community needs to know that

and needs to include all syrians in one process. there are lots of fears. in some areas people are not rejoicing. there are some areas for the heavy concentration of people used to be loyalists of the regime and there is a lot of fear there but what is amazing as well, we are seeing a swift change of position by many people, people who used to be diehard supporters of the regime. suddenly now they're posting on facebook saying well actually, we didn't really like this regime but we could not express it so you know, we would rather see this, even if these are not genuine positions, then see in confrontations and bloodshed in the streets of syria. everyone is tired. >> yes, we are seeing pictures on the screens of people celebrating, rebel fighters celebrating. what happens next is most

important, isn't it, for the stability of syria? >> absolutely, and this should not be another one-man show. again, what happened in the last weeks was the result of several regional factors and internal ones. the regime was just very weak, very tired and could not protect even its own supporters, and the armed groups seized this opportunity. it was a temporary collision of armed groups that put this together but that does not mean the leader of this coalition who is head of a terrorist organization, it does not mean that he should also lead. the syrian society would not welcome extreme mentality despite the fact he is trying not to change his language. there is a clear white wash going on for jolani but this

guy spent decades in al qaeda and the sound a leadership position there. i don't know whether you can change that overnight. until now, until today, there are hundreds of people in his own presence. he killed many of our friends and this is not going to be forgotten, you know. we need to note this. we do not want to replace one dictator and, with another one. >> great to get your take on this developing situation. thank you. >> well, turkey, which borders syria, support some of the rebels in the country's president has been public about where he stands on the latest developments. president erdogan says there is no new reality in syria following the rapid advance of anti-government forces. >> translator: everyone must now see and accept this truth. there is now a new reality in syria politically and diplomatically, and syria belongs to the syrians with all

this ethnic, sectarian and religious elements. it is the syrian people who will decide on the future of their own country. >> let's cross to westminster and speak to our political correspondent. amanda, have we had a response from the uk government yet? >> no, still nothing formal from the uk government or the most senior figures in the uk government. we know [ inaudible ] is due to fly off to the middle east today to meet with the leaders of qatar and saudi arabia to have discussions about the global trade relationship between the uk and gulf states am i think those talks, if they do go ahead, will be eclipsed by the news coming out of syria, a real sign of how this domestic agenda can so quickly be over showered -- overshadowed by a joint defense. last week the uk did issue a

joint statement calling for the protection of civilians and de- escalation as well as for a syrian-led solution to the conflict and i'm sure that will still be the message of the uk government. there has been a tweet from [ inaudible ] in the last few minutes that i think may sum up the way many democratic politicians are feeling this morning. she says her to be happy knowing that assad was gone not because he was not an evil, horrible leader but because what comes next may be equally bad in other ways and that is the balance politicians in the uk are trying to juggle in their heads. as for the middle eastern conservative he has tweeted in response a video from the fight helmets and celebrating return to their hometown and calling them heroes and saying he hopes the uk government will continue to support them as they rebuild their country at the uk government just last week gave another 300,000 pounds to that group in support of their

protection of civilians. i think the uk government does have to tread carefully here because they are global leadership in the sense that the support of the syrian people was lost after david cameron's attempt to vote through allegations of using [ inaudible ] chemical weapons on his own people. it was a real blow to him and to president obama who backed away from that and in that power vacuum, russia really stepped into the conflict and we have seen everything that is happened since so i think we want to tread carefully here but there will be big geopolitical concerns for the prime minister and about security, big debate going on about defense spending at the moment but obviously, that is in competition with other domestic spending pressures, concerns about migration. the last time we saw fighting in syria breakout, that led to the migration crisis which puts

real pressure on the prime minister at the moment that we wait to hear what the government will be saying. >> for more analysis on syria i'm joined now by professor mike or clark former director general of the royal united services institute. good morning to you. i wonder your thoughts. how did this rebel advance develop so quickly? >> from a military point of view it is not that surprising because it is what tends to happen. if you look at what happened in libya in 2011 in the civil war there, the civil war went all the way from tripoli -- from ben ghazi in the east all the way to tripoli in the west and across the whole north african coast in the same happened in 2014 when isis attacked in syria

, northern syria and iraq and were at the northern gates of baghdad within weeks because what tends to happen is that we are not dealing with densely populated areas here so when one city falls or surrenders, defenders fall back to the neck city, which might be 40 or 50 miles away and everybody just gets into their trucks and goes to the neck city, so big areas get covered in these countries when there is an advance and in this case i have been struck by the fact that over the last days, little fighting has taken place. russians have launched ferocious air attacks until a couple of days ago which did not stem the offense and actually the syrian army did not fight it also officers were leaving their units and if the officer leaves their unit and if the officers leave the unit they don't fight. why should they fight if the officers clear off and there have been lots of supports of officers getting out of military clothes and fleeing.

when it starts to collapse in one place it tends to get known about and collapse somewhere else so what assad was facing was encroachment on three fronts by three different groups, so he had hts coming at him from the north. he had this group called the southern front coming at him from the south when he had the kurdish group right out of the east taking that so he was under pressure on three fronts from three different groups in the syrian army decided it was not going to fight and so it didn't, so the groups, as they move forward, were able to do deals say look, just leave your weapons and go home. there won't be any retribution, just leave and that is what rank-and-file tend to do. >> it's so interesting though, isn't it, with the help of russia and iran, assad has been able to crush any opposition and survive, so why then is this rebel advance? why is it possible now? >> the russians and the iranians are both engaged in very low-cost operation. so, the russians were providing

airpower but not many boots on the ground. but with the group expelled from russia in 2023, and the iranians worked for the republican guard, which are the kurds force, the militias. they are quite well-trained but there are only small groups of them so neither? i ran really committed much to syria because backing up a ruthless dictatorship which literally had -- the syrian civil war has killed almost 600,000 people, and almost 400,000 of them are civilians. of those 400,000 civilians, 90% of them were killed, murdered by the is -- assad regime so backing up such a murderous regime in a sense was quite cheap because all you had to do was provide thugs on the ground. when that regime comes under any sort of sustained pressure and this was pressure on three sides and three different places, suddenly that limited commission -- commitment

russia and iran were making was not enough so either they were going to commit much more or pull out and both of them decided they would throw syria under the bus and pullout. >> we have seen pictures this morning of people celebrating in damascus, chanting freedom. many happy. what next? >> it would be nice to think that there might be some sort of multi-party group that might form and prime minister jalali has said i will carry on. he was working for assad he said i will carry on and i will work with everybody and bashar al-assad, the main group, and jolani, the leader of the group, so we will form some sort of national front, but we will see. the brutal truth is that if you look across the middle east, all middle eastern countries seem to require relatively

autocratic governments in israel of course always says we are the only democracy in the middle east and there is some truth to that even though democracy in israel has been under enormous strain under the last few years but look in the gulf. what you have our kingdoms ruling with a sort of benevolent dictatorship but they have lots of money. they have cash so they can buy off a lot of protests. in syria, and lebanon, in egypt, iraq you have very strong either one man or one party governments in writing north africa, the same. the nearest we have had to a multi-party government in an arab state is in tunisia after the arab spring in that collapse. it just did not go anywhere. >> okay. we are going to have to leave it there, michael, it is always such a pleasure to have you one. your insight into this area is endless. thank you so much. let's get more reaction to this developing situation in syria this morning. i think what i always do in situations like this is i take it back to the people, and

there will be many ordinary people waking up this morning with a new reality that assad's brutal regime is over. >> it looks like there are reports he has fled the country. he is on a plane. we don't know where he is gone. my bet is that he is in russia right now but we were talking about it earlier, that we should not underestimate assad's instinct for survival, so has he gone to russia to try to convince vladimir putin that he needs the military might of russian forces to them launch a counteroffensive? we don't really know yet. what it is looking is that these rebel forces are potentially going to be the new regime in syria.

what that means for ordinary people, we still don't know because these rebel forces are no longer affiliated with al qaeda but we know they're still very conservative so that presents challenges for civilians, for women, for minorities and the answer is that we still don't know. >> martina makes a good point about assad heading potentially to russia to seek refuge there but what use will he be now to vladimir putin? >> it is interesting. i think there was a spokesman for the u.s. that actually called that assad's resume would topple about eight days ago and he said he thinks this is on purpose, that the opposition of chosen to target assad now when he knows that russia is preoccupied with its own conflict, i ran, a key ally of the assad regime is also tied up in another conflict so he picked a time where they don't have a lot of support, main allies facing such difficult crises themselves, that it is unlikely the support they can offer to the assad regime at the moment is going to be as strong as it would've been had they not been

so preoccupied so there is a bit of a feeling that was part of the plan , and picking that moment of weakness. that is not to say that he won't find some support in putin or in russia, but it is definitely weaker than normal. >> and in the region meanwhile, huge countries for the country's border with lebanon. >> absolutely and pick up on russia, it is important to note the fact that russia still has some very important naval base in syria, so what they will want to do next, will they want to broker a deal for they just managed to secure those areas? you know, there is still interest in having those places, the military bases. so, i think it is all still very uncertain like what the russians might do next. in terms of the wider region and in terms of what it means for the uk, [ inaudible ] going

for his first trip to the middle east later on today but it presents challenges in terms of foreign policy, in terms of humanitarian efforts. the uk is one of the biggest donors to syria. i think we have donated 3.2 billion to syria so far and also the wave of refugees this conflict could spark. there are several key figures in the cabinet right now who at the time of the civil war were calling on then secretary to accept more refugees. the question is, will that good will follow them to government? >> yes, there will be so many refugees that fled to say germany or jordan. i remember visiting the refugee camp and overwhelmingly speaking to children there who just wish that they could go back home and that will be a thought for people watching this wherever they are scattered around the world about going home to syria. >> absolutely. i think it is in the news often we talk about refugees in quite a formal manner in the sense that they are political logistics, i suppose. this people will go to this

place and this place will accept x people and you forget sometimes as you were saying, lots of these are children and they have had their childhood stripped away from them. they don't have a home. they don't have anywhere. they have not had the freedom of childhood most people have had the luxury of and i think it is important to remember that when talking about refugees and one talking about these crises that these are human lives that they really radically stripped apart. >> a new dawn for syria potentially here. >> yes, a new dawn but much uncertainty, especially for the people. we know the economy was already on its knees and the cost of shooting up, so there will be lots of incivility in the coming days and weeks. >> obviously there are celebrations that the brutal regime has toppled but it is not without some hesitation and some concern, as well. these opposition groups, lots of them used to be affiliated with al qaeda, for example.

the leader of isys was also involved in making hts one of the key opposition rebel groups, so there is some concern about what this will bring. it might be a bit more stable than the assad regime but it is uncertain and we don't know what to expect. >> it will be a key night as politicians do the rounds this morning. >> definitely. i think the deputy prime minister will be on the airwaves this morning so interesting to see what she says but also interesting what the incoming donald trump administration will do because he has already been treating on his social media account saying that this is not a fight for the u.s., so what will that bring? >> okay, thank you so much for your insights on this. we will be back after a short break. a short break. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. i got this kitchenaid stand mixer for only $56. i got this bbq

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