The Lebanese army deploys additional forces to the towns near the Syrian border. 

Adding:  posted 1 minute ago.   

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left to an unknown destination, two senior army officers familiar with the incident told Reuters on Sunday. 

Posted 12 minutes ago:   

Syrian rebels entered the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday, according to multiple reports. The rebels say they have seized the Damascus International Airport. They have also taken over the strategic state TV and radio building in the landmark Umayyad Square, which is in the heart of the capital. The notorious Sednaya Prison has also been liberated, they said. 

Adding from about 3 hours ago: 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has stressed the need to maintain Syria's territorial integrity. 

Speaking this afternoon in Gaziantep, a southern Turkish city that hosts thousands of Syrian refugees and has acted as a base for aid workers operating in Syria, Erdogan said: "There is now a new reality in Syria, politically and diplomatically." 

"Syria belongs to Syrians with all its ethnic, sectarian and religious elements," he said in a speech.

"The people of Syria are the ones who will decide the future of their own country." 

Turkey backs several rebel groups in the Syrian National Army coalition, but denies helping the current rebel offensive. 

A senior Turkish security source told MEE last week that Ankara actually tried to prevent the offensive to avoid further escalating tensions in the region, especially given Israel's wars on Gaza and Lebanon.