Ousted Syria President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, media reports said Sunday, hours after the rebels entered Damascus and ended his iron-fisted rule that lasted for several years.
“Former Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, where they have been granted asylum out of humanitarian concerns,” a source in the Kremlin confirmed to Sputnik on Sunday.
Assad’s family has been ruling Syria for decades with the former President often being seen by critics as a dictator.
The Islamist rebels took control of Damascus after advancing and capturing several other cities in the civil war-hit country at lighting speed.
“We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” the Military Operations Command wrote in a post on Telegram, reported CNN. “To the displaced all over the world, a free Syria awaits you,” the statement added.
The rebels claimed to have taken control of the notorious Saydnaya Military Prison north of Damascus before entering the capital.
Once perceived as unassailable, Assad’s regime collapsed like a pack of cards on the face of a swift aggression led by a group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front, affiliated with terror group Al-Qaeda and allied factions.
Bashar al-Assad’s era started in 2000 when he succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad, who governed Syria with an iron fist for nearly three decades. After Assad’s ascension, people hoped that Bashar would bring progressive changes and transparency to Syria.
However, their hopes were soon dashed as he maintained the stranglehold on power, continuing with the repressive structure of his father’s rule.
Assad, who was backed by Russia for a long time, will be remembered as the man who crushed peaceful protests against his regime in 2011, triggering a civil war that led to the deaths of over half a million people and forced six million others to become refugees.
