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The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule over the Arab country after the militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed and captured the capital Damascus.

In a statement on Sunday morning, the HTS militants declared that they had captured the capital, confirming reports of the fall of the Assad government.

Earlier in the day, Reuters quoted an unnamed officer as saying that the Syrian army command notified officers that the Assad government had fallen.

Ready to cooperate with power transfer: Syrian PM

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali expressed the government’s readiness to “extend its hand” to the militants and hand over its functions to a transitional government.

“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” he said in a video statement.

He also noted that he would go to his office to continue work in the morning, calling on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.

Foreign-backed militants, led by the HTS, waged a surprise two-pronged attack on Syria’s Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib on November 27.

Soon afterward, they captured several Syrian cities, including Hama, Homs, Dara’a, Suwayda, and Damascus.

HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani called on militants to leave state institutions unharmed.

“To all military forces in the city of Damascus, it is strictly forbidden to approach public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former Prime Minister until they are officially handed over, and it is also forbidden to fire bullets into the air,” he said in a statement released on Telegram.

HTS declares fall of Assad government

In their statement, the HTS militant group, which called itself the Syrian National Transitional Council, announced the toppling of the Assad government.

It further vowed to “preserve the unity and sovereignty of Syrian territory, … protect all citizens and their property, regardless of their affiliations,” and “achieve comprehensive national reconciliation.”

Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of militants saying that President Assad has been overthrown and all prisoners have been released.

“The city of Damascus has been liberated,” said one of the militants who read the statement.

“All the prisoners have been released from the prison of Damascus. We wish all our fighters and citizens preserve and maintain the property of the state of Syria. Long live Syria.”

‘In cooperation with UN'

Head of the Syrian National Coalition, Hadi al-Bahra, said, “The situation is safe, and there is no room for revenge or retaliation.”

“Government institutions will resume operations within two days” and that the “transfer of power will take place in cooperation with the United Nations,” he told Al-Arabiya.

The Israeli regime forces have launched a foray into Syrian soil and entered the southwestern city of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after militant groups took control of the Arab country.

The Israeli media reported on Sunday that the regime’s tanks had entered Quneitra on the border of the occupied Golan following heavy shelling of surrounding areas.

“Israeli forces pushed into the buffer zone in the Quneitra area, and launched artillery shelling in the area,” the website of the Times of Israel newspaper said.

The regime’s media also reported the entry of Israeli tanks into Khan Arnabeh, which is to the northeast of Quneitra and five kilometers from the border of the occupied Golan.

Quneitra is within the so-called buffer zone established in 1974 between the occupied Golan and Syria, but Khan Arnabeh is beyond that and the regime’s forces are not allowed to enter.

The resistance media confirmed reports of the Israeli aggression and said the development took place after the regime increased its deployment in the occupied Golan ahead of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Damascus.

Local reports said schools were canceled in four settlements in the occupied Golan due to the “security situation,” adding that the Israeli military had set up checkpoints in the area.

At least four airstrikes targeted the Quneitra countryside after the Israeli tanks entered the area.

The occupation forces were also reported to be digging a large trench on the Syrian border and have destroyed what they claim are weapons depots.

The Israeli occupation army declared that in light of the developments in Syria, it had deployed forces to key areas along the border to ensure the security of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid also said, “In light of the developments in Syria, it is more important than ever to form a strong regional alliance with Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords countries to confront regional instability together.”

Earlier in the day, the armed Syrian opposition groups raided the capital Damascus, and took control of the city’s radio and television station as well as major military and security centers.

The armed groups, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants, announced that they had fully captured the Syrian capital and confirmed reports of the fall of the Assad government.

HTS leader Ahmed al-Shar’a, known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has called on Syrian people not to get close to government institutes and organizations until an official transfer of power takes place under the supervision of the prime minister.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.

Israel has attacked the Kamal Adwan Hospital and several nearby residential buildings in northern Gaza, killing 30 people and wounding many others, amid Israeli attempts to empty the area from the Palestinian people.

“There was a series of air strikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire,” Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said on Friday.

He reiterated that the situation in the hospital and its vicinity was "catastrophic," amid a large number of casualties, including four medical staff.

“We are shocked to see hundreds of bodies in the streets surrounding the hospital.”

The forces also conducted a widespread arrest campaign among patients, their companions and caregivers, and forced the others to head to Gaza City.

Abu Safiya noted that the hospital has run out of surgeons and medical supplies are about to completely run out.

The hospital, one of the key medical facilities in the north of Gaza, has been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli forces since they launched a new invasion of the north about two months ago.

On Thursday, a child was killed and 12 others injured in an Israeli drone strike on the hospital.

Late last month, an Israeli drone killed Ahmed al-Kahlout, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital’s intensive care unit, as he was passing through the facility’s entrance gate.

Palestinian medical sources said the regime is trying to forcibly close the hospital, amid its attempts to empty northern Gaza of its people.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 44,612 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 105,834 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.