President Bashar al Assad has fled the capital Damascus on a plane for an unknown destination.
Syria’s Army Command has notified officers that his 24-year rule has ended, an officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.
Hours earlier, the rebels said they had gained complete control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting.
The rebels, made up of various opposition groups, said on Sunday morning they were working to transition power to a new governing body.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” the coalition said in a statement, describing events as a new birth for “great Syria”.
Syria’s prime minister, who remains in the country, said he was ready to cooperate and offered a peaceful transition.
“I am here in my home,” Mohammad Ghazi al Jalali said. “I have not left it and do not intend to leave, except in a peaceful manner that ensures the continued functioning of public institutions and state facilities, promoting security and reassurance for our fellow citizens.”
He did not comment on reports Mr Assad has fled Damascus.
Mr Assad’s whereabouts now – and those of his wife Asma and their two children – remain unknown.
Thousands of Syrians, in cars and on foot, have congregated at a main square in Damascus chanting for freedom, according to Reuters.
Saturday’s advances on the capital marked the first time the rebels reached the outskirts of the city since 2018, when government forces recaptured the area after a years-long siege.
In Homs, thousands more filled the streets after the army withdrew from the city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free”, and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al Assad”.
Incredible footage circulating on social media purports to show families wandering around the presidential palace to emerge with stacks of plates and other household items in Damascus, while people also reportedly looted the Defence Ministry.
It hasn’t been independently verified.
Syrians inside presidential palace
Soldiers were reported to have deserted their posts and changed into civilian clothes as the rebels closed in.
Mohammed Amer al Oulabi, 44, who works in the electricity sector, was one of many celebrating on the streets.
“From Idlib to Damascus, it only took them (the opposition forces) a few days, thank God. May God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud,” he said.
The country’s international airport in Damascus has been abandoned and rebels said they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and freed inmates there.
Iran’s embassy was also stormed by Syrian rebels, Iran’s English-language Press TV reported.
In a sign of perhaps what was to come – protesters on Saturday brought down a statue of the president’s late father in a main square in a suburb a few miles from the centre of the capital.
