Since the overnight hours Damascus has been under the control of the Islamist militants led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and backed by Turkey. The country’s President Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown, and his whereabouts are unknown, after the extremely rapid insurgent advance out of Idlib, where city after city fell starting with Aleppo in a matter of about a mere week. And just like that 50 years of Assad family rule has ended, and a new extremely unpredictable era of Syria begins. 

Will the country hopelessly fracture as did Iraq and Libya for years after their strongman leaders were overthrown? Will there be mass reprisal killings? Will Christians, Alawites, and Shia be subject to mass persecution and extermination? Will the country, which has already been through over 13 years of horrific proxy war, descend into sectarian and factional chaos and hell? Will Sharia law be enforced by gunpoint? Or will some semblance of a stable transitional government emerge? 

One thing is for sure, a US-designated terrorist has emerged as the current ruler of Damascus and of Syria. At this very moment Washington has a $10 million bounty on his head, given his career as a jihadist began with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) which was killing American troops in Iraq. 

The jihadist factions entered Damascus overnight without a fight from the Syrian Army, and videos quickly emerged of armed fighters entering both the presidential palace (or office) as well as Assad’s private residence in Malki neighborhood.

State television stations broadcast a message from HTS leaders urging calm and a stable transition of power. New rules for Damascus include a curfew imposed from 4pm to 5am local time, according to the local  newspaper.

While the mood on the streets has been generally jubilant, gunfire has been heard – but more likely this is from anti-Assad fighters firing in celebration into the air. Western mainstream media has also been celebratory, generally ignoring HTS’ obvious Al Qaeda links past and present.

But for every scene the media highlights of a few hundred people celebrating in a central square, there are many more thousands of families huddled and fearful in their homes, not knowing what entity or Islamist faction controls the checkpoint around the block.

So far at least one central building has gone up in flames – the former government’s passport and immigration building. It remains unclear why or what the precise cause was.

Amid all of this Israel has continued to attack some locations in Syria, also with reports overnight that Israeli tanks pushed further into a strip of southern Syria in the Golan area. Other buildings are on fire elsewhere in the Damascus region.

Al Jazeera writes:

Syrian Prime Minister Ghazi al-Jalali might be installed to head of a transitional government amid promises of stability, based on a potential deal or ‘security guarantees’ involving Turkey, Russia, Iran, and the Gulf powers.

Syria’s Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali leaves his hotel to officially hand over power to the terrorist groups led by Hayyat Tahrir Al-Sham, after the fall of President Assad. Washington has succeeded; after punishing the Syrian people with crippling sanctions that… pic.twitter.com/d7butlCiqs

— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) December 8, 2024

As for Assad’s current whereabouts, speculates as follows:

Below: the breaching of the presidential palace, where Assad had conducted daily work in his office…

Syrian rebels have entered the presidential palace gates in Damascus..pic.twitter.com/ymz8JqHhPh

— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) December 8, 2024

Will the transition from Assad to “al-Qaeda in suits” be stable? Will a ‘Taliban-lite’ emerge? Is Sharia law coming… implemented by a terror and Islamist iron fist?

Never forget what happens when you turn your brain off pic.twitter.com/cbx2nN23eQ

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) December 8, 2024

Nothing is certain at this point, and there are likely more dark days ahead. 

U.S. Embassy Syria, 16 May 2017: https://t.co/f6EteiE8Zg pic.twitter.com/A98iHnulbK

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 8, 2024