Syria War Live Updates: Ousted Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Russia, hours after the Islamist-led rebels took control of his country. The rebel alliance, led by Islamist leader Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched its offensive on November 27. Since then, Aleppo – the second largest city, and Hamas fell to them. On Sunday, hours after announcing full control of Homs, the third main city in the nation, the rebels also took control of the capital Damascus.

Syria’s civil war, which began with Assad’s crackdown on democracy protests, has killed more than 5,00,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes. According to the United Nations, the violence has displaced 3.7 lakh people.

In a first reaction from the US, President Joe Biden said Assad should be “held accountable” and called the nation’s political upheaval a “historic opportunity” for Syrians to rebuild their country.

Here are the live updates on Syria War:

Two Delhi schools receive a bomb threat on Monday morning. DPS RK Puram and GD Goenka School in Paschim Vihar receive a threat, around 7 am. Students were immediately sent back.

It is a peak hour in schools, with school buses arriving, parents dropping their children off at school, and staff preparing for the morning assembly. Reportedly, the threat was received via email.

Both the Police and fire department have been informed.

Earlier, in October, on a Sunday morning, an explosion occurred outside a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) school in Rohini’s Prashant Vihar. Following this, the very next day, on October 21, schools received an email threatening a bomb blast at all CRPF schools by Tuesday, 11 am. An investigation began immediately and the threat was found to be a hoax.

Syria’s rebel leader hailed a “historic” victory Sunday from a landmark Damascus mosque after his Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group headed a lightning offensive, snatching the capital from government control in less than two weeks.

His speech came as Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad fled  — for Moscow according to Russian news agencies — triggering celebrations across Syria and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule.

“This victory, my brothers, is historic for the region,” HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a speech at the Umayyad Mosque.

He also said the rebel takeover was also a victory “for the entire Islamic nation”, in the video statement shared by rebels on Telegram.

“Today, Syria is being purified,” he said, adding that “this victory is born from the people who have languished in prison, and the mujahideen (fighters) broke their chains”.

He said that, under Assad, Syria had become a place for “Iranian ambitions, where sectarianism was rife,” in reference to Assad’s allies Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.

As he entered the mosque, crowds could be seen cheering him on and chanting “Allahu akbar (God is greatest)”, videos circulating online showed.

HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, with which it broke ties in 2016. 

Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, HTS has sought to soften its image in recent years.

The government fell more than 13 years after Assad’s crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria’s brutal civil war, which has drawn in foreign powers, jihadists and claimed more than half a million lives.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)