DAMASCUS: Syrians strolled through the palaces of President Bashar Assad on Sunday following his sudden ouster, wandering from room to room, posing for photographs, and with some taking away items of furniture or ornaments.
Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, as children ran through the grand, formal rooms and men slid a large trunk across the ornate patterned floor.
Several men marched out of the building carrying chairs over their shoulders. In a storeroom, cupboards had been ransacked and objects strewn across the floor.
Video of another palace, the older-style Muhajjreen Palace, verified by Reuters, showed groups of men and women walking across a white marble floor and through sets of tall wooden doors. A man carried a vase in his hand, and a large cabinet stood empty with its doors ajar. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime in Iraq two decades ago. Then, Iraqis saw the extravagant luxury of his palaces where the bathrooms were famously fitted with gold taps.
Syrian militants seized control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing Assad to flee and ending his family’s decades of rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East.
Another video verified by Reuters showed militants firing celebratory shots at the entrance gate to the New Shaab Palace (Peoples’ Palace), a vast complex on the western edge of Damascus that sits atop Mount Mazzeh.
“The army of Islam (the militants) is in the presidential palace. God is great, we have seized control of it,” said one of the militants. The group then filmed their walk through the deserted grounds and the stark, monumentalist architecture of the palace.
Assad, who had not spoken in public since the sudden militant advance a week ago, flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination earlier on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as militants said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Russia, one of Assad’s closest allies, confirmed that Assad had left Syria but did not say where he was, including whether Moscow had given him refuge.
Syrians stroll through Assad’s palaces, take furniture and ornaments
https://arab.news/rcm7m
Syrians stroll through Assad’s palaces, take furniture and ornaments
- The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime in Iraq two decades ago
- Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace
Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability
- Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community
LONDON: The family of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank have demanded accountability, amid mounting scrutiny over a surge in settler violence and a lack of prosecutions.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a US citizen born in Philadelphia, was killed near the city of Ramallah on Wednesday, becoming at least the sixth American citizen to die in incidents involving Israeli settlers or soldiers in the territory in the past two years.
Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community. Witnesses said that stones were thrown by both sides before settlers opened fire, wounding at least three villagers.
Abu Siyam was struck and later died of his injuries.
Abdulhamid Siyam, the victim’s cousin, said the killing reflected a wider pattern of impunity.
“A young man of 19 shot and killed in cold blood, and no responsibility,” he told the BBC. “Impunity completely.”
The US State Department said that it was aware of the death of a US citizen and was “carefully monitoring the situation,” while the Trump administration said that it stood ready to provide consular assistance.
The Israeli embassy in Washington said the incident was under review and that an operational inquiry “must be completed as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said troops were deployed to the scene and used “riot dispersal means to restore order,” adding that no IDF gunfire was reported.
The military confirmed that the incident remained under review and said that a continued presence would be maintained in the area to prevent further unrest.
Palestinians and human rights organizations say such reviews rarely lead to criminal accountability, arguing that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers accused of violence.
A US embassy spokesperson later said that Washington “condemns this violence,” as international concern continues to grow over conditions in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians and human rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to investigate or prosecute settlers accused of violence against civilians.
Those concerns were echoed this week by the UN, which warned that Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank may amount to ethnic cleansing.
A UN human rights office report on Thursday said that Israeli settlement expansion, settler attacks and military operations have increasingly displaced Palestinian communities, with dozens of villages reportedly emptied since the start of the Gaza war.
The report also criticized Israeli military tactics in the northern West Bank, saying that they resembled warfare and led to mass displacement, while noting abuses by Palestinian security forces, including the use of unnecessary lethal force and the intimidation of critics.
Neither Israel’s foreign ministry nor the Palestinian Authority has commented on the findings.
