Assad has been granted asylum in Russia

Published 9 December 2024 at 12.30

Foreign. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum on “humanitarian grounds”, according to reports in state-run Russian media. BBC News writes.

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Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Assad “decided to resign as president and left the country” to enable a peaceful transfer of power.

Jihadists led by the al-Qaeda group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized control of Damascus without resistance on Sunday, declaring that “the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled”.

Assad, a secular Arab leader who fought Islamists, has not been seen in public since meeting Iran's foreign minister in Damascus last week. Then he vowed to “crush” the jihadists.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an airplane believed to have transported Assad should have left Damascus International Airport early Sunday morning. Flight data showed that a Russian military plane also took off from Latakia International Airport and arrived in Moscow on the same day, but it is unclear who was on board, according to the BBC.

Russia is a long-time ally of Assad. It has had two military bases in Syria and has played a decisive role in the now 13-year-long civil war. Despite this, Russia could not prevent the fall of the Syrian government, as Assad's other allies, Iran and Hezbollah, were busy elsewhere.

Russian media reports that contacts have now been established between Russian authorities and representatives of the Syrian opposition for to guarantee the security of Russian military bases and missions.