Russia state media says Syria's Assad and his family in Moscow
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria after rebels claimed they seized Damascus.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow and have been granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds," Russian state media outlets reported on Sunday.
The news came hours after rebels toppled the 24-year regime of the former president and the over 50-year rule of the Assad family, following a 10-day shock rebel offensive led by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Russia's Foreign Ministry released a statement earlier on Sunday saying that Assad had left the country after reports surfaced of a transport plane taking off from Russia’s air force base in Latakia.
Assad “decided to step down as the Syrian president and leave the country, instructing the government to transfer power peacefully,” the ministry said, adding that “Russia was not a party in those negotiations.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Assad had fled after rebel groups entered Damascus early Sunday.
There is no official confirmation from Assad or his government that he has left.
Senior Israeli and US officials had told Israel’s Walla that they believed Assad was intending to travel to Russia.
Videos circulating online purport to show dozens of Syrians looting a residence in Damascus belonging to Assad.
Watch: Inside the private residence of Syrian President Bashar al Assad hours after he fled the country.
Live updates: https://t.co/OTbVB2OuQS
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The whereabouts of Assad’s wife and three children, as well as that of other family members who have played key roles in Assad’s regime, are unconfirmed. The Wall Street Journal reported that Asma al-Assad, the ousted president’s UK-born wife, fled with their three children to Russia earlier in the week, citing Syrian security officials and Arab officials.
Assad’s brother and the youngest son of Hafez al-Assad, Maj. Gen. Maher al-Assad, was a major player in the regime. Maher led the elite 4th Division of the Syrian army, a deeply loyal force and one that allegedly has huge economic power through its involvement in drug production and smuggling. Reports have also linked Maher to the country’s Republican Guard — an elite unit upon which Bashar relied on to fight the civil war. Unofficially, Maher is also said to have led the Shabiha (ghosts), a regime-backed group of militias linked to Assad-sponsored brutality.
Bashar’s only sister, Bushra al-Assad, reportedly fled Syria in 2012 with her five children to Dubai. In 2013, Bushra was joined by her mother Anisa Makhlouf, widow of Hafez al-Assad. Both were said to have outsized roles in Assad’s regime prior to fleeing.
