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DAMASCUS: Celebrations erupted around Syria and crowds ransacked President Bashar Al-Assad’s luxurious home on Sunday after Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus and declared he had fled the country, in a spectacular end to five decades of Baath party rule. Assad’s key backer Russia said he had resigned from the presidency and left Syria. ”Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,” a Kremlin source told the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. “Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” he added..” Rebel factions aired a statement on Syrian state television, urging fighters and citizens to safeguard the “property of the free Syrian state”. State TV broadcast a message proclaiming the “victory of the great Syrian revolution”. The Islamist leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani said there was no room for turning back. “The future is ours,” Jolani said in a statement read on state TV after his forces took over Damascus. Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa, later visited Damascus’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, as crowds greeted him with smiles and embraces. AFPTV footage showed a column of smoke rising from central Damascus, and AFP correspondents in the city saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad’s home after it had been looted. The rooms of the residence had been left completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor, while an entrance hall at the presidential palace not far away had been torched. “I can’t believe I’m living this moment,” tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this day,” he said, adding: “We are starting a new history for Syria.” Assad’s departure comes less than two weeks after HTS challenged more than five decades of Assad family rule with a lightning offensive. “After 50 years of oppression under Baath rule, and 13 years of crimes and tyranny and displacement... we announce today the end of this dark period and the start of a new era for Syria,” the rebel factions said on Telegram. While there has been no communication from Assad or his entourage on his whereabouts, Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”. The head of war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP: “Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left” the facility. UN war crimes investigators on Sunday described Assad’s fall as a “historic new beginning” for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the “atrocities” committed under his rule are not repeated. The rapid developments came just hours after HTS said it had captured the strategic city of Homs. Homs was the third major city seized by the rebels, who began their advance on Nov 27. US President Joe Biden was keeping a close eye on the “extraordinary events” unfolding in Syria, the White House said. US president-elect Donald Trump said that Assad had “fled his country” after losing Russia’s backing. Before Sunday’s announcements, residents had described to AFP a state of panic in Damascus, but morning saw chants and cheering, with celebratory gunfire and shouts of “Syria is ours and not the Assad family’s”. At the dawn call to prayer, some mosques broadcast religious chants usually reserved for festive occasions, while also urging residents to stay at home. On Sunday afternoon the rebels announced a curfew in the capital until 5:00 am (0200 GMT) Monday. The commander of Syria’s US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of northeast Syria, hailed as “historic” the fall of Assad’s “authoritarian regime”. The Observatory on Sunday said the Zionist entity struck Syrian army weapons depots Sunday on the outskirts of Damascus. Assad’s rule had for years been supported by Lebanese group Hezbollah, whose forces “vacated their positions around Damascus”, a source close to the group said Sunday. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of Assad was a “historic day in the... Middle East” and the fall of a “central link in Iran’s axis of evil”. “This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, Assad’s main supporters,” he added. Netanyahu earlier said he had ordered the Zionist military to “seize” a demilitarized buffer zone on the border with Syria. He said a 50-year-old “disengagement agreement” between the two countries had collapsed and “Syrian forces have abandoned their positions”. The announcement, which Netanyahu made while visiting the Zionist-occupied Golan Heights which abut the buffer zone, came after the military said it had deployed forces to the area. The UN envoy for Syria said the country was at “a watershed moment”, while Turkey, which has historically backed the opposition, called for a “smooth transition”. Iran, a key backer of Assad throughout the civil war, said it expected “friendly” ties with Syria to continue, even as its embassy in Damascus was vandalized. An AFP photographer saw ransacked offices, with shattered glass on the floor and broken furniture in the building in Damascus’s upscale Mazzeh area, also home to other embassies and United Nations offices. People loaded looted items onto trucks outside, the photographer said. A senior United Arab Emirates official urged Syrians on Sunday to collaborate to avert chaos. “We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don’t just see another episode of impending chaos,” presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain. Following speculation about Assad’s whereabouts, Gargash refused to confirm or deny speculation he would take shelter in the UAE. “When people ask, ‘where is Bashar Al-Assad going to?’, this is really at the end of the day a footnote in history,” he told the forum. “I don’t think it’s important. As I said, ultimately this is a footnote really to bigger events,” the Emirati official added when pressed on the question by journalists. Gargash blamed Assad’s downfall on a failure of politics and said he had not used the “lifeline” offered to him by various Arab countries before, including the UAE. Since the start of the rebel offensive, at least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said. Syria’s war killed more than 500,000 people, and forced half of the population to flee their homes. “I can barely remember Syria,” said Reda Al-Khedr, who was only five years old when he and his mother escaped Syria’s Homs in 2014. “But now we’re going to go home to a liberated Syria,” he told AFP in Cairo. – Agencies
Ashok Kumar, the esteemed former India hockey player and son of the legendary Major Dhyan Chand, recently suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized for chest discomfort. Family sources confirmed that he is now stable and out of danger after receiving necessary medical attention and will undergo an angioplasty later. The 74-year-old sportsman experienced chest discomfort on Sunday evening and was swiftly taken to Escorts Hospital, where an angiography revealed several heart blockages. Doctors are planning to implant stents to alleviate the condition, ensuring his continued recovery and stability. A revered figure in Indian hockey, Kumar is celebrated for scoring the decisive goal against Pakistan in the 1975 World Cup, securing India's sole win at that level. He has also been honored with the Arjuna Award and the Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the sport. (With inputs from agencies.)
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Washington, Dec 8 (AP) President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast. Biden spoke at the White House hours after after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country after more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Assad and his family. Biden said the United States was unsure of Assad's whereabouts, but was monitoring reports he was seeking refuge in Moscow. The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East. Biden credited action by the US and its allies for weakening Syria's backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He said “for the first time” that they could no longer defend Assad's grip on power. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East," Biden said, after a meeting with his national security team at the White House. Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled his country, which his family had ruled for decades, because close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.” Those comments on Trump's social media platform came a day after he used another post to decry the possibility of the US intervening militarily in Syria to aid the rebels, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT." The Biden administration had no intention of intervening, according to President Joe Biden's national security adviser. The US has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. Biden said he intended those for troops to remain, adding that US forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision air strikes" on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria. The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Biden administration has designated the group as a terrorist organisation and says it has links to al-Qaida, although Hayat Tahrir al-Sham says it has since broken ties with al-Qaida. “We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.” He added that the groups are “saying the right things now.” “But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions,” Biden said. Assad's fall adds to an already tense situation throughout much of region on many fronts, including Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and its fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, 2025, made a connection between the upheaval in Syria and Russia's war in Ukraine, noting that Assad's allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now.” Vice President-elect JD Vance, a veteran of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, wrote on own social media Sunday to express skepticism about the insurgents. “Many of the rebels' are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell,” he said, using another acronym for the group. Trump has suggested that Assad's ouster can advance the prospects for an end to fighting in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022. Trump wrote that Putin's government “lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine” and the Republican called for an immediate cease-fire, a day after meeting in Paris with the French and Ukrainian leaders. Daniel B. Shapiro, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said the American military presence will continue in eastern Syria but was “solely to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict.” “We call on all parties in Syria to protect civilians, particularly those from Syria's minority communities to respect international military norms and to work to achieve a resolution to include the political settlement,” Shapiro said. “Multiple actors in this conflict have a terrible track record to include Assad's horrific crimes, Russia's indiscriminate aerial bomb bombardment, Iranian-back militia involvement and the atrocities of ISIS," he added. Shapiro, however, was careful not to directly say Assad had been deposed by the insurgents. “If confirmed, no one should shed any tears over the Assad regime,” he said. As they pushed toward the Syrian capital of Damascus, the opposition freed political detainees from government prisons. The family of missing US journalist Austin Tice renewed calls to find him. “To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we're waiting for Austin,” Tice's mother, Debra, said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media. "We know that when he comes out, he's going to be fairly dazed & he's going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!” Tice disappeared in 2012 outside Damascus, amid intensification of what became a civil war stretching more than a decade. We've remained committed to returning him to his family,” Biden said at the White House. "We believe he's alive, we think we can get him back but we have no direct evidence to that yet. And Assad should be held accountable.” The president added: “We have to identify where he is." (AP) GSP (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)Craig 2-5 6-6 11, Goode 1-1 4-5 6, Millender 1-3 2-2 5, Walker 3-9 5-7 13, Zilinskas 11-20 5-5 32, Brown 3-7 4-4 11, Dudukovich 3-6 1-1 9, Garner 0-4 1-2 1, Rutland 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 28-32 88. Moodie 7-10 2-6 16, Bryant 3-5 10-11 17, Ford 6-12 7-8 20, Riley 3-11 0-0 9, Downey 1-5 0-0 2, Lee 2-4 1-1 5, Colon 0-2 0-0 0, Crosby 3-4 4-4 10, Smith 0-2 2-3 2, Greer 0-1 0-0 0, Abdur-Rahman 1-1 0-0 2, Kuir 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 26-33 83. Halftime_Alabama A&M 33-32. 3-Point Goals_IU Indianapolis 12-28 (Zilinskas 5-10, Dudukovich 2-4, Walker 2-5, Brown 1-2, Craig 1-3, Millender 1-3, Rutland 0-1), Alabama A&M 5-25 (Riley 3-11, Bryant 1-2, Ford 1-4, Lee 0-1, Smith 0-1, Colon 0-2, Downey 0-4). Fouled Out_Craig, Brown, Downey. Rebounds_IU Indianapolis 32 (Brown 8), Alabama A&M 32 (Ford 6). Assists_IU Indianapolis 11 (Walker 3), Alabama A&M 13 (Ford 7). Total Fouls_IU Indianapolis 23, Alabama A&M 26. A_320 (6,000).LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Austin Seibert choked back tears taking responsibility for missing the extra point that would have tied the score in the final minute. Jeremy Reaves choked back tears blaming himself for a missed assignment that led to a kickoff return touchdown. And John Bates choked back tears talking about moving forward from his costly fumble. All of those late mistakes contributed to the Washington Commanders' third consecutive loss , 34-26 to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in a game that was wholly unremarkable until fourth quarter chaos. The teams combined to score 31 points in the final four minutes, the most in an NFL game in more than a decade, and the Commanders (7-5) came out on the wrong end of it in a defeat that further endangers their playoff chances. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
Michigan aims to cap lost season by beating Ohio StateQueer Chamber of Commerce has economic concerns over Alberta gender identity legislation
MHSAA football state championship results Friday Beal City 43, Riverview Gabriel Richard 14 Goodrich 35, Niles 6 Jackson Lumen Christi 56, Lansing Catholic 18 Orchard Lake St Mary's 35, Byron Center 19 Saturday Millington 24, Monroe St Mary CC 0 Zeeland West 42, Detroit Martin Luther King 22 Pontiac Notre Dame XXX, Frankenmuth XXX Hudsonville (12-1) vs. Detroit Cass Tech (11-2) (n)