•UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday hailed the end of Syria’s “dictatorial regime” and urged the country to rebuild after President Bashar al-Assad’s sudden fall.
“After 14 years of brutal war and the fall of the dictatorial regime, today the people of Syria can seize an historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future,” Guterres said in a statement.
“I reiterate my call for calm and avoiding violence at this sensitive time, while protecting the rights of all Syrians, without distinction.”
Assad’s reported departure comes less than two weeks after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group challenged more than five decades of Assad family rule with a lightning rebel offensive that broke long-frozen frontlines in the country’s civil war.
Early yesterday, they announced they had entered Damascus and that Assad had fled, prompting celebrations around the country and a ransacking of Assad’s luxurious home.
