<p>Amman: Syria's Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane in Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as rebels seized the city and ousted him from power after 24 years as president.</p><p>Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching into a succession of cities as frontlines crumbled.</p><p>His whereabouts now - and those of his wife Asma and their two children - remain unknown.</p><p>A Syrian airplane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the <em>Flightradar</em> website.</p><p>The aircraft initially flew towards Syria's coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.</p><p>Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.</p>.Syria rebels celebrate in captured Homs, set sights on Damascus.<p>Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed if he was on the plane, as it took a surprise U-turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the <em>Flightradar</em> website.</p><p>"It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down...," said one Syrian source without elaborating.</p><p>The plane departed Damascus soon after rebels had taken the central city of Homs, cutting the capital off from the coast where Assad's Russian ally has air and naval bases.</p><p>The only trackable flight departing Syria visible after midnight on Flightradar24, a flight tracking site, left Homs for the UAE, but that was hours after rebels had captured the city.</p><p>As the rebel advance gathered steam over the past week, there was speculation that he may seek refuge in Moscow or with his other main ally Iran.</p><p>Syrian state media said on Saturday he was still in Damascus. They have not commented on his whereabouts since.</p><p>He was visiting Moscow just before the rebel offensive and Iranian news agencies published a photograph of him on Saturday that they said showed him meeting a top Iranian official in Damascus. </p>
<p>Amman: Syria's Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane in Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as rebels seized the city and ousted him from power after 24 years as president.</p><p>Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching into a succession of cities as frontlines crumbled.</p><p>His whereabouts now - and those of his wife Asma and their two children - remain unknown.</p><p>A Syrian airplane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the <em>Flightradar</em> website.</p><p>The aircraft initially flew towards Syria's coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.</p><p>Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.</p>.Syria rebels celebrate in captured Homs, set sights on Damascus.<p>Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed if he was on the plane, as it took a surprise U-turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the <em>Flightradar</em> website.</p><p>"It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down...," said one Syrian source without elaborating.</p><p>The plane departed Damascus soon after rebels had taken the central city of Homs, cutting the capital off from the coast where Assad's Russian ally has air and naval bases.</p><p>The only trackable flight departing Syria visible after midnight on Flightradar24, a flight tracking site, left Homs for the UAE, but that was hours after rebels had captured the city.</p><p>As the rebel advance gathered steam over the past week, there was speculation that he may seek refuge in Moscow or with his other main ally Iran.</p><p>Syrian state media said on Saturday he was still in Damascus. They have not commented on his whereabouts since.</p><p>He was visiting Moscow just before the rebel offensive and Iranian news agencies published a photograph of him on Saturday that they said showed him meeting a top Iranian official in Damascus. </p>
