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Tomb of ousted Syrian president’s father Hafez al-Assad set alight

Rebel fighters stand next to the burning gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad, at the family's mausoleum. (AFP: Aaref Wated)

In short:

Footage shows the tomb of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's father burning, the latest symbol of the dramatic downfall of the family regime.

Syrian rebels seized the capital, Damascus, on Sunday after a lightning advance through the country, ending a 13-year civil war and causing Assad to flee to Russia.

What's next?

Satellite imagery suggests Russia has begun pulling its forces from Syria following the fall of the Assad regime.

The tomb of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez has been torched by rebel fighters in his hometown of Qardaha, footage taken on Wednesday shows.

Assad was ousted on Sunday after a major offensive by various Syrian rebel groups, which ended his family's five-decade grip on power.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor told news agency AFP the rebels had set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of Assad's Alawite community.

The footage shows parts of the mausoleum ablaze and damaged, with the tomb of Hafez torched and destroyed.

The vast elevated structure atop a hill has an intricate architectural design with several arches, its exterior embellished with ornamentation etched in stone.

It also houses the tombs of other Assad family members, including Assad's brother Bassel, who was being groomed to inherit power before he was killed in a road accident in 1994.

Russia pulling forces from Syria, satellite imagery suggests

Tomb of ousted Syrian president's father Hafez al-Assad set alight

A satellite image shows a Gorshkov-class frigate offshore of Tartous, Syria on December 10. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)

Russia has seemingly begun pulling its forces from Syria following the fall of the Assad regime over the weekend, satellite imagery suggests.

Syrian rebels seized the capital, Damascus, on Sunday after a lightning advance through the country that sent leader Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Russia, ending a 13-year civil war and 54 years of his family's autocratic rule.

How the fall of Assad impacts Iran's Axis of Resistance

Photo shows Supporters of Hezbollah gather waving yellow flags and the flag of Lebanon in Beirut

Tomb of ousted Syrian president's father Hafez al-Assad set alight

The fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has dealt another major blow to Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance".

The rebel victory did not end the conflict in the region.

This week, the Israeli military said it destroyed the regime's weapons stockpiles and struck Syrian naval facilities including Al-Bayda port and Latakia port.

Fifteen Syrian naval vessels were reportedly docked there at the time.

Russia also has a major air base in the coastal city of Latakia and a naval facility at Tartous.

Russia's foreign ministry has not yet issued a statement clarifying whether its Latakia facility was affected by Israel's strike on the port, but satellite imagery suggests Moscow began pulling its forces out of Syria up to two days before the attack.

Russian ships leave Tartous

The satellite images from Planet Labs indicate three ships based in Tartous started to pull away from the coastline on Monday.

Before: A satellite image of a Russian naval facility in Tartous, with circles showing ships seemingly docked, taken on December 6.. . After: The facility with no visible ships in its top section on December 9.. .

Instructions: Use left and right arrow keys to control image transition

Before and after imagesSLIDE

Tomb of ousted Syrian president's father Hafez al-Assad set alight

Tomb of ousted Syrian president's father Hafez al-Assad set alight

A satellite image of a Russian naval facility in Tartous, with circles showing ships seemingly docked, taken on December 6. / The facility with no visible ships in its top section on December 9.

They show two guided missile frigates and an oiler moored around 13 kilometres north-west of Tartous.

The Tartous base is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.

Russia earlier had five surface ships and one submarine at Tartous, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by BlackSky and Planet Labs.

An image taken on December 5 by BlackSky showed all six vessels at the base.

Another satellite image, from Maxar Technologies, shows increased traffic at Al Assad Airport in Latakia, which shares some of its airfields with the nearby Russian air base.

Tomb of ousted Syrian president's father Hafez al-Assad set alight

A satellite image shows crowds and traffic at Al Assad Airport in Latakia on December 9. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)

The movement appears to have occurred after Syrian rebels overthrew the Assad regime in Damascus over the weekend.

Russian reporting suggests that although the Syrian insurgence has reached areas where the foreign military is installed, no fighting has broken out between them.

"Yesterday, the opposition took full control of the Latakia province, including the cities of Tartous and Jableh," Russian state media outlet TASS said earlier.

"The opposition's armed forces did not and have no plans to penetrate the Russian military bases, which continue to operate normally."

Moscow, which has been an ally of the Assad regime for decades, is now scrambling to make a deal with the rebels to guarantee the bases' safety.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said it was "premature to talk about" relations with the rebels.

"This is all a subject for discussion with those who will be in power in Syria," he said.

"Of course, everything is being done now that is necessary and everything that is possible in order to get in touch with those who can deal with security.

"And, of course, our military is also taking all necessary precautions."

AFP/Reuters/ABC

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