Bashar al-Assad and family given asylum in Moscow, Russian media say
Russian state TV also reported the news, which put an end to speculation about the whereabouts of Syria's former president after rebel forces seized control of Damascus.
Kkritika Suri
Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum "for humanitarian reasons," according to a source from the Kremlin, as reported by Russian state news agencies.
This confirmation ended speculation about the whereabouts of Syria's former president after rebel forces captured Damascus. Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry announced that Assad "decided to resign from the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power."
Russia, a strong ally of Assad with two key military bases in Syria, had intervened in the Syrian civil war to help keep him in power. However, it could not prevent the collapse of his government as a swift rebel offensive, aided by distractions facing Assad's other allies, Iran and Hezbollah, gained momentum.
Assad had not been seen since meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus a week ago, where he had vowed to "crush" the advancing rebels. On Sunday morning, after entering the city without resistance, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies announced that "the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled."
With no official confirmation from the Syrian presidency, military, or state media, rumors about Assad’s whereabouts spread. Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, reported that a plane believed to be carrying Assad had left Damascus international airport just before Syrian security forces abandoned the facility. Rahman said the plane was scheduled to depart at 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 indicated that a Syrian Air Ilyushin Il-76T cargo plane departed from the airport at 03:59 local time (01:59 GMT) with an undisclosed destination. The plane initially headed toward the Mediterranean coast, home to Assad’s Alawite sect and key Russian military bases, but then turned eastward after flying over Homs and lost altitude. The signal was lost around 04:39 (02:39 GMT), about 13 km (8 miles) west of Homs at an altitude of 1,625 ft (495 m).
While it was unclear what happened to the plane, Flightradar24 noted the aircraft's age and potential GPS interference in the area, which might explain missing or inaccurate data. There were no reports of a crash.
Data also showed a Russian military plane departing Latakia airport, near the Russian base at Hmeimim, and flying to Moscow. The passengers on board remain unknown.
Along with reporting Assad’s arrival in Moscow, Russian state TV mentioned that Russian officials were in contact with representatives of "the Syrian armed opposition" to ensure the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions.
While Russia maintained that its airstrikes targeted only "terrorists" during its nine-year military campaign in support of Assad, they were often responsible for civilian casualties and widespread destruction. The SOHR reported that over 21,000 people, including 8,700 civilians, had been killed in Russian operations by September.
