Groups of Syrians strolled through the palaces of President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday following his ouster, wandering from room to room, posing for photographs, and with some taking items of furniture or ornaments.

Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, as children ran through the grand rooms and men slid a large trunk across the ornate floor.

Several men carried smart chairs over their shoulders. In a storeroom, cupboards had been ransacked and objects strewn across the floor.

Video of another palace, the Muhajreen Palace, verified by Reuters, showed groups of men and women walking across a white marble floor and through tall wooden doors. A man carried a vase in his hand, and a large cabinet stood empty with its doors ajar.

Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing Assad to flee and ending his family's decades of rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East.

Assad, who had not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination earlier on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.