Russian Media Indicate Bashar al-Assad and Family Granted Asylum in Moscow

According to Russian news agencies, which cite a Kremlin source, Bashar al-Assad and his family have reached Moscow and received asylum “out of humanitarian considerations”. This development, also reported by Russian state TV, concluded speculation regarding the location of Syria’s former president following the capture of Damascus by rebel forces. Previously, the Russian foreign ministry had stated that Assad “decided to resign the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power”. Russia, possessing two crucial military bases in Syria, is a firm supporter of Assad and had intervened in Syria’s 13-year civil war with the aim of maintaining his authority. However, Russia could not prevent the downfall of his government amidst a rapid rebel offensive that capitalized on the preoccupation of his other principal allies, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, with different conflicts. Assad had not been seen in photographs since his meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus a week prior. On that occasion, he pledged to “crush” the rebels who were rapidly gaining control of territory. On Sunday morning, following their fighters’ unopposed entry into the city, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its associated factions announced that “the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled”. In the absence of official confirmation from the Syrian presidency, military, or state media, speculation circulated regarding Assad’s location. Rami Abdul Rahman, who leads the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), stated that a plane thought to be transporting Assad “left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left” the facility. He indicated that his information suggested the plane was scheduled for departure at 22:00 (20:00 GMT) on Saturday. Individuals also tracked flights arriving at and departing from Damascus to ascertain Assad’s potential departure time and destination. Reuters news agency, citing two anonymous senior Syrian army officers, reported that Assad had boarded a Syrian Air plane at Damascus airport in the early hours of Sunday. The agency further noted that a Syrian Air Ilyushin Il-76T cargo plane departed from the airport at 03:59 local time (01:59 GMT), heading to an unrevealed destination. Flightradar24 data indicated that the aircraft initially proceeded towards the Mediterranean coast, an area considered a stronghold for Assad’s Alawite sect and where two significant Russian military bases, Hmeimim airbase and the naval base in Tartous, are located. However, after passing over Homs, the plane executed a U-turn, resuming an eastward trajectory while simultaneously descending. The aircraft’s signal ceased at approximately 04:39 (02:39 GMT), at which point it was situated about 13km (8 miles) west of Homs and flying at an altitude of merely 1,625ft (495m). The fate of the plane remained uncertain, but Flightradar24 commented that the aircraft “was old with an older transponder generation, so some data might be bad or missing”, that it was “flying in an area of GPS jamming, so some data might be bad”, and that the aircraft tracker had no knowledge of any airports in the vicinity where the signal was lost. Furthermore, no plane crashes were reported. Flightradar24 data additionally revealed that a Russian military aircraft departed on Sunday from Latakia’s international airport, adjacent to Hmeimim, and traveled to Moscow. The identities of those aboard remained unknown. In addition to reporting Assad’s arrival in Moscow, Russian state TV indicated that Russian officials were engaging with representatives of “the Syrian armed opposition” and had secured guarantees for the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions. Russia maintained that its air strikes exclusively targeted “terrorists” throughout its nine-year air campaign backing Assad, yet these operations frequently resulted in civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The SOHR reported in September that Russian military operations had caused the deaths of over 21,000 individuals, among them 8,700 civilians. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.