**Syrian President Fleeing Damascus**
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the capital city of Damascus, according to two senior army officers. The officers told Reuters that Assad boarded a plane out of the city on December 8 as rebel forces took control.
Rebel forces entered Damascus in the early hours of December 8 and took over the state TV and radio headquarters to broadcast the end of Assad’s regime. Opposition fighters also claimed they had freed all prisoners at Sednaya Prison near the capital.
**Chaos at Damascus Airport**
Scenes of chaos unfolded at Damascus Airport as residents tried to flee the rebel advance. The fall of Assad’s regime comes just weeks after a coalition of rebel forces launched a surprise offensive in late November, seizing major cities across the country.
**Russia’s Involvement**
Despite Russia’s promises to continue aiding the Syrian government, Moscow is unable to deliver military aid due to its ongoing war against Ukraine. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Russia’s weakness was the reason for the rebel offensive’s speed and scope.
Satellite imagery suggests that Russia has withdrawn all vessels from the Tartus Naval Base in Syria, its only naval base in the Mediterranean.
**Ukraine’s Response**
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on December 7 to discuss Ukraine’s situation. If Assad’s regime falls, Russia will lose its regional foothold in the Middle East.
**Casualties Mount**
Russian forces have suffered over 1,300 casualties in recent days, including a six-year-old boy killed in an attack on Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The death toll has risen to three after another body was recovered from the rubble on December 7.
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