Islamist rebels topple Syrian government
Syria's capital, Damascus, has fallen to Islamists. The leader of the insurgent coalition, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, claimed victory eleven days after launching an offensive against Bashar al-Assad's government.
According to the Al Jazeera, at the time the rebels took control of Damascus airport, online flight radars observed only one aircraft in Syrian airspace.
According to international sources, it was the Syrian leader's plane, which disappeared from radar.
Bashar al-Assad was overthrown after 24 years in power in Syria, which he inherited from his father, Hafez, who seized it in 1971.
Abu Mohamed Al Jolani, considered a terrorist by the United States and the United Nations Security Council, led the major offensive in Syria with his Islamist group, the Levant Liberation Organization.
(MH with FM/Source: Agence/Photo: DPA/Anadolu/Ammar Ghali)