DAMASCUS –
Syria’s Islamist rebel leader on Monday began discussions on transferring power, a day after his opposition alliance dramatically unseated president Bashar Assad following decades of brutal rule.
Assad fled Syria as the Islamist-led rebels swept into the capital, bringing a spectacular end on Sunday to five decades of brutal rule by his clan.
He oversaw a crackdown on a democracy movement that erupted in 2011, sparking a war that killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.
