SYRIAN PRESIDENT FLEES

Syrian President Bashar alAssad has resigned and fled the Russian foreign ministry said but provided no details of his whereabouts.

- Abdulrahman Shaheen

His government in Damascus, marked by iron-fist rule for 25 years, collapsed early Sunday, falling to a lightning rebel offensive.

The rebels had been trying to unseat Assad for more than a decade, much of which was marked by a devastating civil war. For many, this was a moment filled with hope as they had toppled a tyrant who used oppressive tactics to quash their freedoms. But the moment was also rife with uncertainty over who will rule Syria next and raised fears of a power vacuum in a country, especially with competing factions vying for control of different areas of territory.

Many of the capital's residents were in disbelief at thespeed at which Assad lost his hold on the country after nearly 14 years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million and drew in several foreign powers.

NO TEARS SHED: But as daylight broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to pray in the city's mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting "God is great." People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked car horns. Teen boys picked up weapons that had apparently been discarded by security forces and fired them in the air.