BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on Sunday, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria.

Residents in the Syrian capital were seen cheering in the streets of Damascus, as the rebel factions heralded the departure of “tyrant” Assad and “declare the city of Damascus free.”

The president’s reported departure comes less than two weeks since the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched its campaign challenging more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.

“After 50 years of oppression under Baath rule, and 13 years of crimes and tyranny and (forced) displacement... we announce today the end of this dark period and the start of a new era for Syria,” the rebel factions said on Telegram.

Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people.”

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), “Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left” the facility.

AFP was unable to immediately confirm the report, which follows a source close to Hezbollah saying fighters from the key Assad ally had left their positions around Damascus.

HTS said their fighters broke into a jail on the outskirts of the capital, announcing an “end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya” which has become a by-word for darkest abuses of the Syrian regime.

The rapid developments in Damascus come only hours after HTS said they had captured the strategic city of Homs, on the way to the capital.

The defense ministry earlier denied that rebels had entered Homs, describing the situation there as “safe and stable.”

Homs lies about 140 kilometers north of the capital and was the third major city seized by the rebels who began their advance on 27 November, reigniting a years-long war that had become largely dormant.

Soldiers ‘fled’ to Iraq

The Observatory said on Saturday government forces had lost control of all southern Daraa province, the cradle of the 2011 uprising.

The army said it was “redeploying and repositioning” in Daraa and another southern province, Sweida.

The Observatory also said troops were also evacuating posts in Quneitra, near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

An AFP correspondent in Daraa saw local fighters guarding public property and civil institutions.

In Sweida, a local fighter told AFP that after government forces withdrew “from their positions and headquarters, we are now securing and protecting vital facilities.”

An Iraqi security source told AFP that Baghdad has allowed in hundreds of Syrian soldiers, who “fled the front lines,” through the Al-Qaim border crossing. A second source put the figure at 2,000 troops, including officers.

HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years, and told minority groups living in areas they now control not to worry.