Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad granted asylum in Moscow, Russia requests UNSC emergency meet
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow after rebels seized control of Damascus, ending his family's 50-year rule. Russia has also finalized a contract to secure its military outposts in Syria and requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting.
FollowSyria’s former President Bashar al-Assad and his family have been granted asylum in the Russian capital Moscow on humanitarian grounds, hours after a stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule. A contract to guarantee the security of Russian military outposts has also been finalized, a Kremlin source later informed Russian news outlets.
Syrian rebels took control of the country's capital, Damascus, on Sunday. They flooded into the streets, brandishing the revolutionary flag and firing wildly. The event, which is regarded as one of the most significant turning moments in Middle Eastern history, forced President Assad to escape to Russia following a 13-year civil war.
In the meanwhile, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, posted on Telegram that Russia has asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to address Syria.
Assad's regime and years of conflict have frequently set Syria's many ethnic and religious groups against one another. Many of them were afraid of the potential takeover by Sunni Islamist militants. Along with the country's division among several armed groups, international powers such as the United States, Turkey, Israel, Iran, and Russia are also involved.
Across Syria, people toppled statues of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad's father and the founder of the system of government that he inherited. For the past 50 years in Syria, even the slightest suspicion of dissent could land one in prison or get one killed.
US President Joe Biden was keeping a close eye on the "extraordinary events" unfolding in Syria, the White House said. US president-elect Donald Trump said that Assad had "fled his country" after losing Russia's backing. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was a “historic day in the Middle East" and the fall of a “central link in Iran’s axis of evil".
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