"Victory of the great Syrian revolution and fall of the criminal Assad regime," read the full-screen message in large white letters on a mostly red background.
The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allied factions have launched a lightning offensive since November 27, seizing vast swathes of the country from government hands, including the major cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs, and entering the capital Damascus on December 8.
In an earlier announcement broadcast on state television, the rebels said they had toppled the "tyrant" Assad and released unjustly detained prisoners.
A group of people were shown in the state TV news studio, with one of them reading a statement from the "operational room for the conquest of Damascus".
It called on fighters and citizens to protect "the property of the free Syrian state."
Syria's civil war began after the 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests and has become a complex conflict that has involved foreign armies and jihadists and killed more than half a million people.
The rebels' lightning offensive comes after four years of relative calm on the frontlines. | BGNES
