(FILES) Turkish Prime Minister Rcep Tayyip Erdogan (R) listens to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad delivering a speech during their press conference at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul on June 7, 2010. Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, 2024, sending Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. Erdogan, whose government backs some armed groups in the Syrian northern, said on December 7 that Syria "is tired of war, blood and tears". (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP)