AP: Syrian government falls after 50-year rule of the Assad family

The Associated Press has reported that the Syrian government has fallen today after a 50-year rule by the Assad family, following a sudden rebel offensive that erupted on government-controlled territory and entered the capital in 10 days.

Syrian state television broadcast a video statement from a group that said President Bashar Assad had collapsed and all prisoners in prisons have been released.

The man who read the statement said the Chamber of Operations for the Invasion of Damascus, an opposition group, called on all to preserve state institutions, as said by the Syrian free state “”.

The statement appeared hours after the leader of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country, fleeing ahead of the rebels who said they had entered Damascus following extremely fast progress across the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to take “shake hands to the opposition” and pass its functions to a transitional government, the AP reports.

I'm in my house and I'm not gone, because of my belonging to this country”, Jali said in a video statement.

He said he would go to his office to continue his work in the morning and urged Syrian citizens not to harm public property until he spoke of Assad's reports that he had left.