Rebels seize Damascus as Assad flees to Moscow

Celebrations across Syria after decades of brutal rule come to end | Militias take capital just 11 days since start of offensive against regime

- William Christou Damascus Bethan McKernan

The people of Syria were celebrating the fall of Bashar al-Assad and daring to dream of a better future last night after five decades of dynastic rule came to a sudden and unexpected end with the dictator fleeing to Moscow.

Crowds of people waved the Syrian revolutionary flag and pulled down statues and portraits of the president and his father and predecessor, Hafez, while celebratory gunfire and car horns echoed around Damascus yesterday as an astonishing rebel advance reached the capital.

In photographs and videos of families reunited with loved ones long lost to the dark of the regime's notorious prison system, people cried and clung to one another in disbelief at their newfound freedom.

Others ransacked the presidential palace, marvelling at the abundance of luxury goods and designer cars in a country where 90% of the population live below the poverty line.

Hours earlier, it was announced that Assad had fled the capital in a private plane and that his regime had fallen. Last night, Russian state news agencies reported that the president and his family were in Moscow and had been given asylum.

The road linking the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to Damascus was lined with discarded army uniforms yesterday. In a panic, soldiers had stripped off uniforms in the streets in the early hours, realising their leader had abandoned them after 54 years of his family's rule over Syria.

Army tanks that were supposed to stop the lightning rebel offensive, which had started in the north-west of the country 11 days earlier, stood empty in front of checkpoints with posters of the late leader, Hafez al-Assad, his face half torn.

Out of habit, a driver stopped and rolled down the window, but there was no one at the checkpoint. "No more checkpoints, no more bribes," Mohammed remarked, smiling as he sped towards the capital.