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Despite Assad's departure I don't predict a bright future for the citizens of Syria.

Also his plane disappeared from radar

From the transponder data, right? Must have switched it off.

It crashed or made an emergency landing near Homs

Worth noting that the Il-76 in question is capable of a grass landing if necessary: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JTUprcyx-xw

Seems like they left the transponder off until they left Damascus proper, went up to a partial cruise altitude, turned, descended and took a runway approach pattern turning toward Lebanon. Whether or not it's a red herring is anyone's guess, but I suspect Assad and the Republican Guard will be unloaded here. It would be pretty risky to fly the plane to somewhere like Russia with the transponder live, and potentially even more dangerous to go somewhere else with it on.

Can anyone explain how this happened so quickly?

"Gradually and then suddenly."

<https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/08/06/bankrupt/>

More substantively: Wikipedia has an article on the Fall of Damascus:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Damascus>

For myself: this has happened with extreme rapidity, and catches me by surprise.

hopefully straight to the Hague

Get ready for new waves of Syrian refugees in your countries.

Assad Has Left Damascus