Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left for an unknown destination, two senior army officers familiar with the incident told Reuters on Sunday.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Rebel forces have declared Damascus “free,”
CNN reported that rebel forces in Syria have declared Damascus “free,” claiming Bashar al-Assad has fled the capital, according to a statement on Sunday.
“We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” the Military Operations Command wrote in a post on Telegram.
“To the displaced all over the world, a free Syria awaits you,” the statement added.
Assad’s fate is unknown
On Saturday night, US officials told CNN that Assad’s fate was currently unknown.
The officials cautioned that there has been no formal assessment of Assad’s status and that his death has not been ruled out.
“The emerging consensus is that is an increasingly plausible scenario,” one senior US official said to CNN.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
