Assad collapsed over the weekend without a fight, Damascus slipped into a power vacuum that saw the pillaging of the deposed president’s ornate palace, some government buildings and the homes of high-ranking officials.

Syrian rebels appear to have entered the capital Damascus after facing scant resistance from regime forces, as President Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long grip on power appeared to wane by the minute.

The Assad family’s decadeslong reign in Syria came to an abrupt end Sunday when rebel forces captured Damascus after a stunning lightning-strike rout across the country.