This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Alex Ritson and this is a special edition recorded at 0600 GMT on Sunday the 8th of December

to mark the historic events unfolding in Syria.

After more than half a century, the Assad era appears to be over.

Hafiz al-Assad became president of Syria in 1971 under the Ba'ath party.

His son Bashar took power after his death in the year 2000.

In the last few hours, he's widely believed to have fled the country by plane on route to an unknown destination.

Islamist rebels say they're now in control of the capital city, Damascus, and are at the time of recording preparing to broadcast on state TV.

We'll get the very latest from our correspondence.

We'll be assessing what all this means for the people of Syria and for President Assad's former international allies, including Russia and Iran.

After almost a quarter of a century in power and almost 14 years of civil war,

Bashar al-Assad appears to have been driven from power.

Rebel forces are saying that they've captured the capital, Damascus.

The group leading the insurgency, Hyatt Tarir al-Sham, or HTS, has also said President

Assad has fled the country.

Celebrations erupted in Damascus early on Sunday morning.

Gunfire was heard as people took to the streets.

A statement issued by the rebel said,

we declare Damascus free of the tyrant Assad. The Syrian Prime Minister

Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali in a recorded video message announced he was ready to work on a transition

of power. Any leadership chosen by the Syrian people were ready to cooperate with it, providing all possible

facilities to ensure a smooth transfer of various government files.

...