Russian State Media Report Syria’s Assad Fled to Moscow
By Juliet Vincent
Russian news reports say that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family arrived in Moscow Sunday, after a stunning rebel advance through Syria forced him flee.
The Russian media reports said the Assad family was granted asylum. Russia has been a close ally of Assad.
Earlier, joyful crowds jammed into the capital city’s squares, waving the three-starred Syrian revolutionary flag reminiscent of the earliest days of the Arab Spring uprising, before Assad’s brutal crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the country into a nearly 14-year civil war. Some Syrians prayed in mosques.
Rebel forces opened the cell doors of the country’s prisons, freeing political prisoners and criminals Assad had jailed and tortured. Others rampaged through the presidential palace and the Assad family residence after the deposed strongman and other top officials fled the country.
The downfall of Assad was stunningly quick, with the rebels capturing the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs in a matter of days as the Syrian army ended any opposition. The rebels are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) which has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations.
Some celebrants tore down and ripped apart Assad portraits in the palace, while others walked out carrying dinnerware, chairs, furniture and any palatial belongings they were claiming as keepsakes of the overthrow of the government.
Some celebrants could be seen on video footage torching pictures of Assad plastered prominently on Damascus buildings while people in the streets nonchalantly walked across posters bearing his likeness.
In the streets, people chanted “God is great” and anti-Assad slogans. Some honked car horns. Teen boys picked up weapons that had apparently been discarded by security forces and fired them in the air.
The last Assad years, since 2011, were marked by a bitter and bloody civil war in which more than half a million Syrians died and at least half the country’s pre-war population of 22 million was displaced.
Now, the immediate fate of Syria is uncertain. Assad’s overthrow is a major blow to Iran, a key supporter of his, and its allies in the Mideast, who have focused their attention on more than a year of conflict with Israel. Hezbollah militants only recently reaching a ceasefire with Israel in Lebanon while the war between Iran-funded Hamas and Israel rages on in Gaza. (VOA).
