Deposed Syrian President Assad and his family in Russia granted asylum: report

Last update:09 December 2024, 00:10 IST

Earlier in the day, Russia announced that Assad had resigned as Syrian president and left the country for an unknown destination.

The overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (File)

Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family arrived in Russia’s Moscow after rebels took control of the country’s capital Damascus on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported citing a Kremlin source.

“Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,” the source told Russian news agencies. The Assad family was granted asylum by Russian authorities for “humanitarian reasons”, the source added.

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Earlier in the day, Russia announced that Assad had resigned as Syrian president and left the country for an unknown destination.

“As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict in the SAR, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving orders to transfer power peacefully,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. statement.

Speculation has swirled about Assad’s fate after the rebel advance in the capital. It was thought he might seek refuge in Russia or Iran.

As previously reported, the deposed leader was visiting Moscow just before the rebel offensive and Iranian news agencies published a photo of him showing him meeting a senior Iranian official in Damascus.

Assad has not spoken publicly since the rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching on a succession of towns as lines frontally were collapsing.

In the meantime, according to the sources, Moscow has received guarantees from the Syrian insurgents regarding the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic posts in Syria.

Flees to an unknown destination

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad left on Saturday evening aboard a private plane that took off from Damascus international airport at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT), without specifying where he was heading.

There were also reports that Assad was killed in a plane crash after it abruptly reversed course and flew in the opposite direction for several minutes before disappearing from radar near the city of Homs. Reuters reported.

What fueled speculation about Assad’s death?

Reuters cited data from the website Flightradar and reported that a Syrian plane took off from Damascus airport around the same time the capital was stormed by anti-regime forces.

The flight first headed to the coastal region of Syria, considered its stronghold. However, the plane abruptly turned around and flew in the opposite direction for a while before disappearing from the map. The abrupt turnaround and disappearance of radar fueled speculation that Assad was killed in mid-air.

Syrians celebrate Assad’s ouster

Celebrations broke out in Syria and crowds ransacked Assad’s palace earlier in the day. HTS, formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front and affiliated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group, along with allied factions, ended five decades of rule by the Baath Party.

Who is Bashar al-Assad?

Bashar Al-Assad came to power after his father Hafez Al-Assad in 2000 and ruled Syria for more than two decades until an armed rebellion toppled his regime.

Bashar Al-Assad’s father’s iron rule over Syria for almost three decades was seen by many as repressive.

Assad’s legacy will be indelibly marked by his handling of the 2011 protests, which escalated into a devastating civil war. The conflict has cost more than half a million lives, forced six million people to become refugees, and left countless others internally displaced.

Over the past 11 days, a rebel alliance has launched an offensive across Syria in the boldest challenge to the Assad regime in years – after decades of brutal rule by the Assad dynasty marked by fighting , bloodshed and oppressive political repression.