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Today’s top stories
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow yesterday as rebels seized control of Damascus, Syria’s capital. Today, people in the country woke up for the first time in decades without being ruled by the Assad regime. The Assad family came to power in 1970.
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday.
Omar Sanadiki/AP
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Omar Sanadiki/AP
- 🎧 Syrians broke out in intense celebrations after news spread of the regime’s collapse. The fall of Assad’s regime comes after 54 years of dictatorship and 13 years of civil war, NPR’s Ruth Sherlock tells Up First. Syrians have accessed the Assad family palace, which they had never seen before. The opulence of the Assad home shows the lavishness in which they lived compared to the country’s people. The civil war plunged over 90% of the population into poverty. Under a brutal dictatorship, thousands of people have disappeared into Sednaya prison in Damascus. The huge complex was synonymous with torture and terror for many Syrians. Some 100,000 detainees are unaccounted for.
- 📸 See photos from the fall of Damascus here.
President Biden yesterday said that the U.S. is prepared to work with Syrians as they work to create a new government. Biden has called Assad’s ousting a moment of risk and opportunity. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump took to social media to express a different tone. He said that Syria is not a U.S. problem…