Overview
- On December 5, an Iranian commander in Damascus told Syrian personnel the Revolutionary Guards were leaving and would no longer be responsible for them.
- Syrian soldiers were instructed to destroy sensitive documents and remove hard drives before being paid a month’s salary and sent home.
- The Iranian consulate was emptied by the evening of December 5 as diplomats crossed into Lebanon, and by the morning of December 6 the embassy, consulate and security posts were deserted.
- Colonel Mohammad Dibo said about 4,000 Iranian personnel were evacuated via Russia’s Hmeimim base, with others departing overland through Iraq or Lebanon.
- AFP’s on-site observations and testimonies described abandoned bases with Hezbollah slogans and left-behind Iranian passports, and reported that Damascus fell without a fight two days later after Assad fled to Russia.