Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the country

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad had left the country, after losing swathes of territory to a lightning rebel offensive.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said "Assad left Syria via Damascus International Airport.

Meanwhile, Syria’s armed opposition says they have captured the capital, Damascus, and that President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country. The announcement comes after rebels seized the city of Homs in a lightning offensive hours earlier, Al Jazeera reports.

The commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, says the government’s collapse is near and promises to protect people in areas the group controls.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis is a “dangerous development” and calling for a political solution.