BANGKOK (AP) — Guerrilla fighters from Myanmar’s Karen ethnic minority claimed Monday to be close to seizing control of a major trading town bordering Thailand, as soldiers and civil servants loyal to the military government appeared to be preparing to abandon their positions.
The occupation of Myawaddy town by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, or KNU, appeared imminent as the guerrillas seized or besieged strategic army outposts on the town’s outskirts, a spokesperson and members of the KNU said Monday.
Myawaddy, in Kayin state, is Myanmar’s most active trading post with Thailand, and its fall would be the latest in a series of shock defeats suffered by the army since last October, when an alliance of three other ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast. Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, where it conceded control of several border crossings, in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere.
The military government under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has acknowledged it is under pressure, and recently introduced conscription to boost its ranks.
The nationwide conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
Three residents of Myawaddy town, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear being arrested by either warring side, told The Associated Press by phone that they had heard no sounds of the fighting outside since Sunday afternoon. They said most residents were working as usual, while others were preparing to flee to Mae Sot, just across the border in Thailand. Two of them said they had not seen any members of the government’s security forces since Sunday.
The situation was highlighted Sunday night when a Myanmar plane made an unscheduled flight to Mae Sot from Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city. Thai media reported that the plane had received permission from Thai authorities to evacuate people fleeing Myawaddy. It was not clear if those fleeing, described as military and civil servants loyal to Myanmar's military government, had already crossed into Thailand over the river that marks the border.
Thailand’s Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that approval was given for three flights on a Yangon-Mae Sot route to transport passengers and cargo, one each day on Sunday through Tuesday. Myanmar’s government later canceled its requests for the remaining two flights.
The Thai government was closely monitoring the situation along the border, and is ready to take all necessary measures to maintain peace and order, and to keep the people along the border safe, the Thai ministry said.
In times of fighting along the frontier, Thailand has generally granted temporary shelter to Myanmar villagers. There are also about 87,000 living in nine long-term refugee camps.
The KNU, which is the leading political body for the Karen minority, said in a statement posted on Facebook that its armed wing and allied pro-democracy forces on Friday had seized the army base on the road to Myawaddy at Thin Gan Nyi Naung. It had served for nearly six decades as the military’s regional headquarters.
It said that 617 members of the security forces and their family members had surrendered. The KNU posted photos of the weapons that it claimed to have seized and captured military personnel and their family members given shelter in a school.
Two Karen guerrillas involved in their group’s offensive told AP on Monday that they have surrounded an army garrison about 4 kilometers (3 miles) to the west of Myawaddy that is in charge of the town’s security, and an artillery battalion to the south. Negotiations were underway for their surrenders, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information.
They also said the Karen have control of about 60% to 70% of Myawaddy township, and are almost certain to capture the town itself after the two bases surrender or are overrun.
The Karen, like other minority groups living in border regions, have struggled for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.
Fighting between the army and Karen armed groups intensified after the military seized power in 2021. Several ethnic rebel groups including the Karen have loose alliances with pro-democracy militias after the military takeover, and also offer refuge to the civilian opponents of the military government.
Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force collect weapons after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)
Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force collect weapons after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)
Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force examine two arrested soldiers after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)
Syria's government appears to have fallen after opposition fighters said they had entered Damascus following a stunning advance and a Syrian opposition war monitor reported that President Bashar Assad had left the country.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government.
It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018 when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.
The night before, opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it.
The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too.
Eight key countries gathered with the U.N. special envoy on Syria on the sidelines of the Doha Summit for two hours of discussions Saturday night, and more will follow. The U.N. envoy seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.”
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MANAMA, Bahrain — Anwar Gargash faced a series of direct questions over Syria, particularly as the UAE in recent years had sought to rehabilitate Assad’s image in the Arab world.
Asked if Assad was heading to the UAE, Gargash said: “When people ask where is Bashar al-Assad going to, I say, you know, when you really look at this, this is really at the end of the day a footnote in history. I’m reminded a little bit by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918 when he went into a long exile.”
He added: “But I don’t think when you look at that period, this is really critical.”
Gargash later refused to answer when repeatedly pressed by journalists on whether his answer was an acknowledgment that Assad was in the UAE.
There has been speculation Assad could flee to the oil-rich, where his extended family is known to own properties in Dubai. Flight-tracking data showed private jets moving between Damascus, Syria, and the UAE on Saturday.
Gargash spoke Sunday at the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Manama, Bahrain, contributed to this report.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Sunday it also sent troops to “other places necessary for its defense,” and that the force deployment was meant to provide security for residents of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
It added it was “not interfering with the internal events in Syria.”
Israel captured that territory from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move not recognized by much of the international community, which views the territory as occupied.
A later ceasefire agreement created a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries’ territories, prohibiting military presence or activity from either side in the area. United Nations peacekeepers have patrolled the area since 1974.
BEIRUT — “This change presents an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that secures the rights of all Syrians,” Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said in a written statement, praising the fall of the “authoritarian regime in Damascus.”
The Kurdish-led group has a significant presence in northeastern Syria, where they have clashed with the extremist Islamic State group and Turkish-backed militias over the years.
BEIRUT— Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said early Sunday he didn't know the whereabouts of Bashar Assad and his defense minister.
He told the Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that they lost communication Saturday night.
DAMASCUS, Syria —The video statement by a group of men said that President Bashar Assad was overthrown and all prisoners have been set free.
The man who read a statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”
“Long live the free Syrian state that is to all Syrians and all” their sects and ethnic groups, they said.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s al-Watan newspaper, historically pro-government, wrote: “We are facing a new page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding more blood. We believe and trust that Syria will be for all Syrians.”
It added that media workers should not be blamed for publishing government statements in the past.
“We only carried out the instructions and published the news they sent us,” it said. “It quickly became clear now that it was false.”
A statement from the Alawite sect — to which Assad belongs and which has formed the core of his base — called on the youth to be “calm, rational and prudent and not to be dragged into what tears apart the unity of our country.”
“We were and still are advocates of peace and advocates of unity,” it said. It called for “the language of reason and dialogue to prevail over all parties in the service of Syria and its great people.”
DAMASCUS, Syria — As daylight broke over Damascus for the first time after the fall of the government of Bashar Assad to a shock offensive launched by opposition forces, crowds gathered to pray in the city’s mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting: “God is great.”
Soldiers and police officers had left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.
Many of the capital’s residents were in disbelief at the speed with which Assad’s hold on the country had fallen after nearly 14 years of civil war.
“I did not sleep last night and I did not accept to sleep until I heard the news of his fall,” said Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi, 44, who works in the electricity sector. “From Idlib to Damascus, it only took them (the opposition forces) a few days, thank God. May God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.”
DAMASCUS, Syria — Crowds of Syrians have gathered to celebrate in the central squares of Damascus, chanting anti-Assad slogans and honking car horns. In some areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.
“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. “After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.”
Daher said his father had been killed by security forces and his brother was in detention, his fate unknown. Assad “is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog,” he said.
“Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif, another reveler in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today.
— Abdulrahman Shaheen in Damascus.
BEIRUT - The leader of the largest insurgent group in Syria has prohibited his fighters from getting close to state institutions saying they will remain under the supervision of the country’s prime minister at the present time.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, leader of the jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, also banned his fighters from opening fire in the air in the capital Damascus.
“Public institutions will remain under the supervision of the prime minister until they are officially handed over,” he said in a statement published on his group’s social media outlets.
Al-Golani’s comments came as Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said he is extending his hand to the opposition adding that he wants to guarantee that state institutions function.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s government appears to have fallen in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a lightning offensive by insurgents this week.
The apparent fall came after the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said early Sunday that President Bashar Assad left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a stunning advance across the country.
Rami Abdurrahman told The Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday.
Then Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement.
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said in a video statement that the government is ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said.
He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
He did not address reports that President Bashar Assad has left the country.
There was no immediate comment from the United Arab Emirates on Assad’s whereabouts. Assad’s family has extensive real estate holdings in Dubai.
BEIRUT - The military command of the Syrian opposition says its fighters have entered the capital Damascus claiming that it is “free" of President Bashar Assad’s rule.
The so-called Military Command Administration said Assad had fled without giving further details.
Assad’s departure marks the end of the 54-year of Assad family rule of Syria with an iron fist. His father Hafez Assad came to power in a bloodless coup in 1970 and ruled until his death in 2000. Bashar Assad was elected weeks after his father’s death and ruled Syria until he was overthrown on Sunday.
The command declared the end of “the dark period and the beginning of a new era in Syria.”
State television in Iran, Assad’s main backer in the years of war in Syria, reported that “terrorists” had entered Damascus and that Assad had left the capital. It cited Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network for the information and did not elaborate.
BEIRUT - The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor says Syria’s President Bashar Assad has left the country for an undisclosed location.
Rami Abdurrahman tells The Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday.
Abdurrahman’s comments came after the protesters took over the Syrian capital.
An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road in the outskirts of the capital and hearing sounds of gunshots. The city’s main police headquarters appeared to be abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside.
Another AP journalist shot footage of an abandoned army checkpoint, uniforms discarded on the ground under a poster of Assad’s face.
Syrian insurgents say they have entered Damascus, capping a stunning advance across the country, as residents of the capital reported sounds of gunfire and explosions.
There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government. The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that Damascus airport was evacuated and the insurgents announced they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “liberated our prisoners” there.
The night before, opposition forces had taken the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it. The government denied rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.
The loss of Homs represented a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser says the Biden administration has no intention of intervening in Syria.
“The United States is not going to ... militarily dive into the middle of a Syrian civil war,” Jake Sullivan said Saturday at an annual gathering of national security officials, defense companies and lawmakers in California.
He said the U.S. would keep acting as necessary to keep the Islamic State group — a violently anti-Western extremist group not known to be involved in the offensive but with sleeper cells in Syria’s deserts — from exploiting openings presented by the fighting.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s backers — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah, "have all been weakened and distracted,” Sullivan said. He later added that “none of them are prepared to provide the kind of support to Assad that they provided in the past.”
The Biden administration says Syrian opposition forces’ capture of government-held cities demonstrates just how diminished those countries are by wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon.
The Syrian insurgency announced Saturday that it has taken over Homs, following reports of government forces withdrawing from the strategic city.
This latest development in the fighters’ swift shock offensive in the war-torn country has left embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad effectively in control of the capital Damascus and two other cities where his key support base among the Alawite Muslim population are based.
Homs is an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces that are the Syrian leader’s base of support.
Syrian opposition fighters have reached the suburbs of the capital, Damascus as the fighters’ offensive picks up speed. President Bashar Assad’s whereabouts are unknown.
The mother of an Israeli man held hostage in Gaza and seen in a newly released video by Hamas says “enough with the games” and calls for more pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Einav Zangauker told a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night that like her son Matan, “there are a few dozen who are currently alive. Don’t allow them to be brought back dead in bags. Take to the streets.”
Matan Zangauker, speaking under duress, appealed to the public to protest in front of Netanyahu’s home and “not let him sleep even for a minute.” Zangauker also referred to 420 days of being held by Hamas militants and said “isolation is killing us.”
Police used a water cannon on the demonstrators as thousands took to the streets for the weekly anti-government protests.
Two officials with Iran-backed Iraqi militias in Syria say the militias are monitoring the situation and have not made a decision to enter in support of Iran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad.
One of the officials said Iranian militias had withdrawn to Iraq from their positions in Syria.
“All the militias are waiting to see what Bashar Assad will do in Damascus. If he resists and does not allow Damascus to fall, it is possible that the Iraqi factions will intervene for the purpose of support,” he said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
-- Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
Multi-country discussions on Syria have ended on the sidelines of the Doha Summit. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein says the countries will issue a statement, and there will be follow-up talks “taking into consideration the practical and real situation on the ground.”
He said the talks, which lasted over two hours Saturday evening, focused on how to stop the fighting. Eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran gathered with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen.
When asked where Syrian President Bashar Assad is, Iraq's foreign minister replied, “I don’t know.” He declined to speculate on whether Assad would be overthrown. Opposition fighters have reached the Damascus suburbs.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says two Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed six people and wounded five others.
The ministry said an airstrike on the village of Beit Leif killed five people and wounded five, while a drone strike on the village of Deir Serian killed one person.
Israel’s military said it was looking into the report.
Despite a ceasefire that went into effect on Nov. 27 to end the 14-month fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants that had escalated into all-out war, violations of the truce have continued.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza says the facility came under heavy Israeli bombardment again on Saturday and three medical staff were killed.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safia in a statement posted by Gaza’s Health Ministry said the hospital was hit by over 100 projectiles and bombs, and electricity was cut off. He said the surgery department and neonatal unit were hit, and he pleaded for “immediate coordination for repair operations.”
Kamal Adwan is one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza. Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months.
Israel’s military said it wasn’t aware of any attack Saturday.
The hospital director on Friday said Israeli strikes had killed at least 29 people including four medical staff.
Israeli Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is monitoring the Syrian border to make sure that “local factions do not direct actions towards us,” adding that Israel is not intervening in the events in Syria.
Israel’s military has said it is reinforcing its deployment along the border with Syria. Halevi said if “confusion” arises and actions are directed toward Israel by “local factions” taking control of parts of Syria, Israel has a strong “offensive response.”
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Syria says the U.N. is relocating non-critical staff outside the country.
Adam Abdelmoula in a statement Saturday called it a precautionary measure to protect U.N. teams. “Let me emphasize—this is not an evacuation and our dedication to supporting the people of Syria remains unwavering,” Abdelmoula said.
The statement did not say how many U.N. staffers were leaving Syria as opposition fighters reached the suburbs of Syria’s capital, Damascus. The statement said the fighting in Syria has displaced over 370,000 people as the humanitarian situation deteriorates, “with many seeking refuge in the northeast and others trapped in frontline areas, unable to escape.”
Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran have gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit along with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, to discuss the situation in Syria.
The talks continued late Saturday and no details were immediately available. Qatar, Jordan and Iraq also were part of the discussions as opposition fighters closed in on the Syrian capital, Damascus.
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi government spokesperson says about 2,000 Syrian army soldiers have crossed into Iraq seeking refuge as opposition forces advance in Syria.
Bassem al-Awadi said the soldiers’ equipment and weapons were registered and taken into custody by the Iraqi army. “We dealt with them according to the principle of good neighborliness and humanity,” he said Saturday.
Al-Awadi also said Iraqi officials are concerned about the security of the al-Hol camp and other facilities in northeast Syria where suspected Islamic State group members and their families are detained. The facilities are guarded by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.
Al-Awadi said there is “high security coordination” between Iraqi officials and those forces to “prevent the prisoners from escaping.”
Syria's army says it is fortifying its positions in the suburbs of Damascus and in the country’s south, as opposition fighters close in on the capital.
The army statement on Saturday also asserted that Syria is being subjected to a “terrorist” and propaganda campaign aiming to destabilize and spread chaos.
The statement also said the military is continuing with operations in areas including the central provinces of Hama and Homs, and that it has killed and wounded hundreds of opposition fighters.
A giant banner of Syrian President Bashar Assad hangs on the facade of a building, as pedestrian walk through an the empty streets of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
FILE - Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks at a press conference in Cairo, Oct. 2, 2000. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
FILE - In this photo provided by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Syrian President Bashar Assad listens during the Arab summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. (Saudi Press Agency via AP, File)
Syrian opposition fighters drive past a burning government armored vehicle south of Hama, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syrian opposition fighters remove a government Syrian flag from an official building in Salamiyah, east of Hama, Syria Syria, Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
FILE - In this photo provided Nov. 9, 2019, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
Syrian opposition fighters ride along the streets in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A man rides his motorcycle past a burning government armoured vehicle south of Hama, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syrian opposition fighters ride along the streets in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Defectors line-up to register their details with Syrian insurgents in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday Dec. 5, 2024. As insurgents consolidate their hold of Aleppo, which they overran last week, they issued a call to government soldiers and security agencies to defect, granting them what they called "protection cards," which offer them some sort of amnesty and assurances that they won't be hunted down.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaks during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, back to a camera, in Moscow, Russia. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)
Palestinian girls struggle as they get donated food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
People cross through the destroyed crossing border point between Lebanon and Syria which hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Arida, north Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo)
The destroyed crossing border point between Lebanon and Syria which hit by an Israeli airstrike is shown, in Arida, north Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo)
Palestinians gather for a food distribution in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian women and girls struggle to reach for food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)