(Reuters) - Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad celebrated on Saturday after the Turkish army said it was seizing power from President Tayyip Erdogan, while Syrian rebels said the loss of a main regional backerwould be a major blow to their struggle.

The government in Damascus has accused Erdogan, who said the coup would fail, of fuelling the Syrian conflict by supporting Islamist insurgents battling Damascus and allowing foreign jihadis to cross the border from Turkey into Syria.

Hundreds of cheering people took to the streets after midnight in Damascus and volleys of celebratory gunfire erupted in several districts of the Syrian capital.

Residents said convoys of cars were processing around the Mazzeh neighborhood, with people waving flags and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar!". There were similar celebrations in other government-held cities.

A resident in the government-heldpart of the northern city of Aleppo said people believed that " Erdogan's fall is an announcement of the end of the crisis in Syria, given he is the one chiefly responsible for the crisis".

Another Aleppo resident said people were chanting for Erdogan to be held to account. A witness in the Jaramana district of Damascus said the celebratory gunfire was greater even than when Assad won re-election as president two years ago.

Erdogan said the coup attempt would be put down, and the primeminister and other officials said the elected government remained in place. Gunfire broke out in Istanbul and Ankara and television pictures showed scoresof people gathered in city squares to show support for the Turkish government.

Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year, began as a peaceful uprising against Assad before morphing into a multi-sided conflict that is estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people and spawned an international refugee crisis.

Turkey alone is hosting 2.7 million refugees.

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