Syrians flock to celebrate new day after Assad's fall

Assad fled to Russia on Sunday after a lightning offensive spearheaded by Islamist rebels ousted him from power, opening a new chapter in Syria's history after five decades of rule by his clan.

AFP journalists at Umayyad Square saw fighters deployed as joyful residents flocked to the scene following a nighttime curfew imposed by the rebels for the capital.

"It's indescribable, we never thought this nightmare would end, we are reborn," 49-year-old Rim Ramadan, a civil servant at the finance ministry, told AFP at the square in the heart of the capital.

"We were afraid for 55 years of speaking, even at home, we used to say the walls had ears," Ramadan said, as people honked their car horns and rebels fired their guns into the air.

"We feel like we're living a dream," she added.

Elsewhere in the capital, some neighbourhoods were deserted, another AFP journalist saw.

The end of Assad's rule follows a 14-year civil war sparked by a brutal crackdown on democracy protests.

The war killed more than 500,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes, many millions of them abroad.

Assad inherited from his father Hafez al-Assad a system under which anyone suspected of dissent could be jailed or killed.

Assad relied on his alliances with Russia and Iran to remain at the helm despite the mass protests and armed rebellion.

But on November 27, a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive that tore through the country, wresting control of city after city until they reached Damascus on Sunday.

In a matter of days, the grip of the army and security forces collapsed and rebels moved into the main cities of Aleppo, Hama, Daraa and Homs, before entering the capital, bringing about an end to decades of Baath party rule.

strs-jos/ser/jxb