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Syrian capital Damascus erupted in scenes of chaos and triumph on Sunday as rebel forces swept into the city and entered the presidential palace of Bashar al-Assad after he fled the country. The palace, long a symbol of Assad’s iron-fisted rule, had a trove of luxury vehicles, riches and military hardware.
Videos circulating on social media show the rebels exploring a garage packed with high-end cars, including Mercedes-Benz, Ferraris, Porsches, Audis and a few armoured SUVs.
NDTV could not independently verify the authenticity of the viral videos.
🇸🇾 Syrian people take Assad’s cars! pic.twitter.com/GrKmvE0izF
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 8, 2024
The Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, a sprawling stone and marble fortress perched on a hill overlooking Damascus, also witnessed a group of Syrians firing into the air, taking selfies and searching for anything of value.
Social media videos showed looters walking away with artwork, furniture and kitchenware, while one armoury in the palace was found stocked with submachine guns.
Some of the guns Assad left behind as he fled the presidential palace that is now in the hands of rebel fighters.
I imagine he and those close to him walked through this section of the palace and thought: “we have enough ammo! We are invicible! Nothing can shake us!”… pic.twitter.com/0WGKhf0aLz
— TOKO (@GodwinTOKO) December 8, 2024
سراديب منزل ماهر الأسد في دمشق
من يخاف من الشعب يحفر تحت الأرض عشرات الأمتار pic.twitter.com/BSMpzmplOy
— Abdullah Almousa (@Abu_Orwa91) December 8, 2024
Videos also showed people ransacking the central bank, carting away what one user described as “money and valuables.”
???????? MEET THE NEW SYRIAN MILLIONAIRES!
Syria’s Central Bank is being looted in Damascus and people carry out huge bags of money and valuables.
The smart people did not go to Assad’s palace for chandeliers, but to the bank for cash and gold! pic.twitter.com/hmPFagIEuh
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 8, 2024
Bashar al-Assad and his family have reportedly fled to Moscow and have been granted asylum. His government fell 11 days after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group challenged more than five decades of the Assad family rule with a lightning offensive.
“A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory,” top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani told a huge crowd in Damascus.
The rebels began their advance on November 27, the same day a ceasefire took place in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah members.
