Transcript of Frontline report: Inside Damascus as rebels seize power and Assad flees | BBC News

A momentous day in the Middle East. The family dynasty that controlled Syria for more than half a century is no longer in power with president Bashar al Assad having fled the country as rebel forces closed in on the capital Damascus. Thousands of people celebrated in the main square chanting freedom after the rebels seized control, seemingly bringing to an end the civil war that's lasted 13 brutal years. But when the end came, it came quickly. The speed of the rebel victory, astonishing.

It was only on Tuesday that the city of Aleppo was captured in a shock offensive. Then by the weekend, they had full control of Homs, and the province of Deraa was in their grasp. Then overnight, the rebels entered the capital, meeting almost no resistance. Well, Barbara Plet Ushark, who was the 1st Western journalist that entered Damascus as the city fell, reports now on a day of high drama. We have full coverage for you with Steve Rosenberg in Moscow where Russia says president Assad has been given asylum.

We'll hear from Jeremy Bowen on the repercussions for the wider Middle East, and Frank Gardner will explain who the rebels are. But first, here's Barbara's report.

This is an extraordinary moment, a seismic change in Syria's balance of power. The strong man of Damascus, Bashar al Assad, is gone. Rebels have declared victory. We were the 1st Western journalists to reach the capital just hours after it fell.

This is where people are celebrating in the central Umayyad Square. Civilians and rebels, you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. People are driving around in their cars. They're giving me peace signs. They're saying that life is gonna be so much better now that Bashar al Assad is gone.

But there is a mix of joy and fear in the city. There are those who supported Bashar al Assad, who felt they were protected by him, and now they're wondering what is going to happen.

Here, I spoke to people who have long been waiting for his downfall. Thank you. Thank you, she says. The tyrant has fallen. The tyrant has fallen.

Many of her family died under president Assad's rule, some in prison.

My cousin, my son, my family, all all. All. All. It's messy.

How are you feeling?

It's an indescribable feeling we're so happy. After all the years of dictatorship we've lived through, we were in prison in 2014, and now we're out. Thank God. We won because of our men and our fighters, and now we're at the moment that we're going to build the greatest Syria.

The old Syria has gone with breathtaking speed. The army melting away in the face of the rebel advance. Last week, it was Aleppo. Yesterday, the city of Homs. Last night, the outskirts of Damascus.

When they arrived, the rebels went straight to a notorious prison to set the inmates free. Today, their leader took a victory tour of Damascus visiting the historic Umayyad Mosque, Abu Mohammed Jollani, head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham. My colleague, Faris Kalani, was there for BBC Arabic.

A historic moment in every sense of the word. Ahmed Sharra Abu Mohammed Jullani here for the first time in the great Umayyad mosque.

The rebel commander has been playing down past links to Al Qaeda, saying he wants to build a Syria for all its people. From the Syrian prime minister, also a message of calm.

We're all concerned about this country and its institutions and facilities. I'm here in my home, and I do not intend to leave it except in a peaceful manner in order to ensure the continuation of the work of public institutions.

The president fled as the rebels closed in. Reports in Russia now say he's turned up in Moscow. A statue of his father pulled down shortly before he flew out of the country. His Damascus residence now a tourist attraction stripped bare of anything valuable, of anything at all. We saw people carrying out furniture with no 1 trying to stop them.

The rebels may have brought freedom but not security. Looters have been breaking into buildings here too. Deepening anxiety about this in between time without a government in charge.

Definitely a freedom but the transition has to happen super quick. Our president shouldn't have just left. He should have taken the proper measures that are needed for him to actually, you know, like, give at least the the army or the police, you know, control over those areas until a new presidency comes in. But he was just purely selfish and he left.

The country is hoping for peace and fearing chaos. Different groups control different areas. No 1 knows how this will play out. But whatever happens here will be felt across the Middle East.

Barbara, you and your team, you managed to get into the capital pretty quickly after it fell. What was that journey like?

It was an extraordinary day, Clive. We had heard the night before that the Syrians had left their side of the border. So we packed our bags, and we went there hoping that we could get across from Lebanon, and we did. And then once we were in Syria, the road to Damascus was wide open. Once we got closer to the capital, we could see, some abandoned military equipment along the way, the signs of the the way that the army retreated so quickly, tanks and military jeeps.

But it was when I got to Umayyad Mosque that I really felt that sense that people were overwhelmed by what had happened, the end to the Assad regime, 54 years of authoritarian rule. You know, years ago, I interviewed a member of the Syrian opposition when Hafez al Assad was in power, the father, And he leaned towards me and he said, the man is very cruel. And I I kind of felt felt about that. I thought about that when I was speaking to Allah. You saw him in my piece.

He said, you know, he was criticizing Bashar al Assad, but he said it felt very strange. And just 2 days ago, he wouldn't have even dreamed of saying the things that he was dreaming. And I asked him if he had hoped for the future. He said, well, he hoped the change would be a good 1, but he'd actually had 13 years of false hopes during the civil war. So it really is a country at a historic historic transition, a historic intersection, but you just don't know in which direction it's going to go.

What a momentous day. Barbara, thank you. Barbara Plet, Usher there, and your team. Thank you. While Russian state media is reporting that Bashar al Assad is in Moscow and that he and his family have been granted asylum, it was Russian firepower that helped keep him in power during the early difficult days of the civil war.

And ever since, the Kremlin has backed the dictator until now. Well, Steve Rosenberg is live in Moscow. The big question, Steve, is he there?

Well, I mean, the the announcement was made, on Russian state television. So probably, yes. It was a brief announcement quoting a a Kremlin source saying that, Bashar al Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow, been given, asylum on humanitarian grounds. I think that these extraordinary events that we've been witnessing are a a major blow to the Kremlin. I mean, after all, Russia Russia's intervention in the Syrian war was driven to a large extent by Russia's desire to project itself as a global power.

Shoring up Assad was seen very much as a way of challenging the West. And now, in a matter of days, this Kremlin Syria project has sort of unraveled in dramatic circumstances. I think that Russia's priority now will be the fate of its 2 main military bases in Syria, 1 airbase, 1 navalbase, which have, had given Russia a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean. Meanwhile, tonight, Russian state television is telling Russians this. Let me just tell you.

So the TV said, of course, we are not indifferent to what is happening in Syria, but our priority is Russia's own security in the zone of the special military operation, Russia's war in Ukraine. Now I think that language, we are not indifferent to what is happening in Syria. I find that quite extraordinary in a country, Russia, which for years has done everything possible to keep Assad in power but has failed.