Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and received asylum, according to reports from Russian state media today occurred hours after Islamist-led rebels seized control of Syria.
A Kremlin source confirmed to TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies, “Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds.”
Speculation about Assad’s mysterious whereabouts dominated social media throughout most of Sunday, with flight trackers closely monitoring potential movements.
Data from the Flightradar website indicated that a Syrian Air plane departed from Damascus airport around the time rebels captured the capital. Initially, the aircraft headed towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold for Assad’s Alawite sect. However, it abruptly changed course, flying in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing from the radar.
The sudden disappearance of the plane from tracking systems led to theories that it might have been shot down or had its transponder switched off. However, the confirmation of Assad and his family’s presence in Russia clarifies that the plane’s transponder was indeed turned off intentionally.
Assad’s escape to Russia occurred shortly after the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a swift offensive, challenging the decades-long rule of the Assad family. The rebel group proclaimed a significant change on Telegram: “After 50 years of oppression under Baath rule and 13 years of crimes, tyranny, and displacement… we announce today the end of this dark period and the start of a new era for Syria.”
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of HTS, recently visited Damascus’s iconic Umayyad Mosque, receiving a warm welcome from the crowds. Despite HTS’s origins in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and its classification as a terrorist organization by Western governments, the group has been actively trying to reshape its image.
