Fall of Damascus (2024)

Fall of Damascus
	Part of the 2024 southern offensive of the Syrian civil war
	; Civilians climb on an abandoned Syrian Arab Army tank during the fall of Damascus
Date	7–8 December 2024 (1 day)
Location	Damascus and Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria
Result	Syrian opposition victory Syrian Army surrenders the capital to the opposition; Syrian president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia; Bashar al-Assad's government is overthrown and fall of the Ba'ath Party rule; Rebels form new government after Assad's fall;
Belligerents
Syrian Opposition Southern Operations Room; Syrian Free Army; Syrian Salvation Government; ;	Ba'athist Syria
Commanders and leaders
Ahmad al-Awda; Salem Turki al-Antri; Ahmed al-Sharaa (final phase)	Maher al-Assad
Units involved
Military Operations Command Tahrir al-Sham (final phase); ;	Syrian Armed Forces Syrian Army Syrian Army Command; 4th Armoured Division; ; ;

On 7 December 2024, the Syrian opposition group known as the Southern Operations Room, in co-ordination with the Military Operations Command, led forces that entered the Rif Dimashq region of Syria from the south, and those forces then came within 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the capital Damascus. The Syrian Army withdrew from multiple points in the outskirts. Concurrently with the advance towards Damascus, opposition militia Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in the north launched an offensive into Homs, while the Syrian Free Army advanced into the capital from the southeast. By 8 December 2024, rebel forces entered the city's Barzeh neighborhood. According to official state reports in Russian mass media and media footage, President Bashar al-Assad left Damascus by air to Moscow, where he was granted asylum, sealing the fall of his regime.