Syrian opposition fighters have taken over the presidential palace in Damascus after a rapid offensive that seized control of the capital and sent crowds into the streets to celebrate the end of the al-Assad family’s 53-year rule.

State television on Sunday aired a video statement by a group of men saying President Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been set free.

The man who read the statement said the opposition group, known as the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, called on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve the institutions of “the free Syrian state”.

The opposition said al-Assad had left Damascus. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Syria’s war erupted in 2011 as an uprising against al-Assad’s rule and quickly morphed into a full-blown conflict that dragged in foreign powers. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed while millions were forced from their homes in one of the world’s largest refugee crises.