New Delhi:
Reports from Russian state media indicate that Bashar al-Assad, the ousted President of Syria, along with his family, has sought asylum in Moscow following the takeover of his country by Islamist-led rebels.
“Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow,” confirmed a Kremlin source to the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. “Russia has granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” the source added.
Social media was abuzz with speculation regarding Assad’s whereabouts on Sunday, with flight trackers following the movements of a Syrian Air plane that departed from Damascus airport around the time rebels seized control of the capital.
The aircraft initially headed towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then abruptly changed course and disappeared off the radar, leading to speculations of a possible shootdown or transponder shutdown.
Now that Assad and his family are safely in Russia, it is evident that the plane had deliberately deactivated its transponder.
Assad’s departure comes in the wake of a swift offensive by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which challenged the decades-long rule of the Assad family.
HTS declared the end of an era of oppression and announced a new chapter for Syria, with their leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani making a symbolic visit to Damascus’s Umayyad Mosque.
As statues of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, were brought down across Syria, marking a symbolic end to the regime’s rule, HTS fighters liberated a notorious prison on the outskirts of Damascus, signaling an end to the era of tyranny.
UN war crimes investigators hailed Assad’s fall as a historic moment for Syrians, urging the new leadership to prevent the repetition of past atrocities.
Following the capture of the strategic city of Homs by rebels, US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump closely monitored the unfolding events in Syria, with Trump noting Assad’s departure after losing support from Russia.
Source: AFP
