Assad's regime falls: Israel claims strategic victory
Israel, a neighbor of Syria, is also responding to the regime's downfall. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Assad's escape is partly due to Israel's efforts.
The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime marks a historic day, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. He added that Assad's regime was a significant part of the pro-Iranian axis, and its overthrow was directly influenced by strikes carried out by Israel against Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran itself.
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel will not permit any "hostile forces" to establish a presence near its borders.
Earlier reports indicated that Israel had bolstered its military presence on the occupied Golan Heights, which were seized from Syria in 1967.
The fall of Assad's regime
The Syrian army command announced on Sunday that Assad's authoritarian rule had ended following a successful and swift rebel offensive. The rebels captured the Syrian capital overnight from Saturday to Sunday with virtually no resistance from government forces.
Assad, who had suppressed dissent and imprisoned thousands, fled Damascus in an unknown direction on Sunday.
This information was confirmed in an interview with the German agency dpa by Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) based in London.
