Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flees Damascus as rebels announce to storm capital, say 'end of the era of tyranny'
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled Damascus and left for an unknown destination as rebels announced to storm the capital, media reports said.
Quoting two senior army officers, news agency Reuters reported that President al-Assad boarded a plane and left for an unknown destination.
Citing a war monitor, AFP reported that the Army and security forces had abandoned Damascus International Airport.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that fighters of a key Assad ally had left positions around the Syrian capital.
The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group said its forces were moving into Damascus.
Soon after, they announced an "end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya" as the rebels broke into the jail that has become a byword for the darkest abuses of the Syrian regime, AFP reported.
Earlier, the rebel group had said they had captured the strategic city of Homs and were proceeding to the capital.
However, the Syrian defence ministry denied the claim and said the situation in Homs was "safe and stable".
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