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Updated as reports come in.
Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow, according to Russian media. The family arrived in Moscow Sunday, after a lightning rebel advance through Syria forced them to flee, the reports said. Russia has been a close ally of Assad.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on December 8 that Assad “decided to resign” after “negotiations” with a “number of participants in the armed conflict” and left office “giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.”
Russia did not participate in these negotiations, the ministry said.
The statements came after the rebels said on state TV that Damascus is “now free of Assad,” whose family ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 50 years.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said in a video that the government is “ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people.”
“We believe that Syria is for all Syrians and that it is the country of all its sons and that this country can be a normal state that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world without entering into any regional alliances and blocs,” Jalali said, adding he was still at home in Damascus and had not fleAbu Mohammad al-Golani, a leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, has emerged to the forefront. The HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union.
In Washington, the White House press office told RFE/RL that U.S. President Joe Biden and his team “are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners.”
Setback For Russia
Experts have said the fall of the Assad regime would also represent a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin, which, along with Tehran, has supported the Syrian government through many years of civil war.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that “Assad regime forces have collapsed and Assad’s backers do not appear willing to bolster the Syrian Arab Army by rapidly deploying additional forces.”
Russia has multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim and strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin’s actions in Africa.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the fate of the Russian bases, saying he “wasn’t in the business of guessing.”
Syrian rebels led by Islamist militants said early Sunday that the capital city is “free” of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad, as reports say that Assad has fled Damascus by plane. His destination was not known.
“We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” the insurgents’ Military Operations Command wrote on Telegram. “To the displaced all over the world, a free Syria awaits you.”
Posts on social media say that the Syrian government’s vaunted “Fortress Damascus” did not hold, and that Assad’s soldiers had changed from their uniforms into civilian clothes.
The militants entered the central city of Homs on December 7 and began to encircle the capital city of Damascus, according to reports from inside the embattled country. Amid reports that Russian and Iranian assets there have dwindled considerably, authorities within the Syrian government said that the city is heavily fortified and impenetrable. Events proved otherwise.
The unexpected rebel assault casts a stark spotlight on the Syrian armed forces under President Bashar Assad. The timing is notable, as Assad’s key allies — Iran, its proxy forces, and Russia — are embroiled in their own conflicts, potentially straining their ability to provide critical support.
READ MORE about recent military action in Syria.
The fighting has forced thousands of residents to flee war-torn areas, a security source told Soldier of Fortune on Saturday.
Experts have linked the latest developments in Aleppo to shifting dynamics elsewhere in the Middle East.
“Since 2016, those defending Aleppo were Iran and Hezbollah, but both are now in vastly different circumstances,” said Ahmed Rahal, a former Syrian military general who defected from the army in 2012. He now works as a military analyst in Istanbul.
“Iran is currently preoccupied with its conflict with Israel, and Hezbollah has nearly been decimated [by Israel],” he told VOA.
The terror group no longer can be counted upon to pick up the fight, a U.S.-based security source told Soldier of Fortune.
“Hezbollah has been pushed to the wall,” the source said.
As fighting on the ground and rebel gains intensified, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey held emergency talks in Doha, Qatar, on December 7 called for an end to hostilities.
Assad’s whereabouts were not confirmed as of early Sunday.
– Based on reports from multiple sources, including VOA, RFE/RL; and from security contacts in London and the U.S.
