In one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations, the fall of Assad's government on Sunday wiped out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world. Moscow gave him and his family asylum, Russian state media said.
His sudden overthrow, at the hands of a revolt partly backed by Turkey and with roots in jihadist Sunni Islam, limits Iran's ability to spread weapons to its allies and could cost Russia its Mediterranean naval base. It may pave the way for millions of refugees scattered for more than a decade in camps across Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to finally return home.
There are celebrations in Syrian communities worldwide, including in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. (EPA PHOTO)
For Syrians, it brought a sudden unexpected end to a war in deep freeze for years, with hundreds of thousands dead, cities pounded to dust and an economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
"How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?" the top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani told a huge crowd in central Damascus, referring to refugees who died trying to reach Europe.
"A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory," he said, adding that with hard work Syria would be "a beacon for the Islamic nation".
The Assad police state - known since his father seized power in the 1960s as one of the harshest in the Middle East with hundreds of thousands of political prisoners - melted away overnight.
Bewildered and elated inmates poured out of jails after rebels blasted away locks on their cells. Reunited families wept and wailed in joy.Â
A bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad was toppled in the seize of Damascus. (AP PHOTO)
As the sun set in Damascus without Assad for the first time, the roads leading into the city were mostly empty, apart from motorcycles carrying armed men and rebel vehicles caked with mud as camouflage.
Some men could be seen looting a shopping centre on the road between the capital and the Lebanese border, stuffing goods into plastic bags or into pick-up trucks. The myriad checkpoints lining the road to Damascus were empty.
A thick column of black smoke billowed out from the Mazzeh neighbourhood, where Israeli strikes earlier had targeted Syrian state security branches, according to security sources.
Intermittent gunfire rang out in apparent celebration.
Earlier, the rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments. Thousands congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting "Freedom".
People were seen walking inside the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, with some leaving carrying furniture from inside. A motorcycle was parked on the intricately-laid parquet floor of a gilded hall.
Syrians are walking through the Presidential Palace helping themselves to souvenirs. (AP PHOTO)
The Syrian rebel coalition said it was working to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with executive powers.
"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," it added in a statement.
Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, prime minister under Assad, called for free elections and said he had been in contact with Golani to discuss the transitional period.
Golani, whose group was once Syria's branch of al-Qaeda but has softened its image to reassure members of minority sects and foreign countries, said there was no room for turning back.
US President Joe Biden, in a televised address, cheered Assad's fall but acknowledged that it was also a moment of risk and uncertainty. He pledged to support Syria's neighbours.
The whereabouts of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad, his wife Asma and children is unknown. (EPA PHOTO)
Jubilant supporters of the revolt crowded Syrian embassies in various cities around the world, lowering red, white and black Assad-era flags and replacing them with the green, white and black flag flown of his opponents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Assad's fall was thanks to blows Israel had dealt to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, and that the toppling of Assad could make it easier for Israel to reach a ceasefire deal to free hostages in Gaza.
"The barbaric state has fallen," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
