Syria’s deposed former leader al-Assad in Moscow: Russian media
Al Jazeera
Russia has granted the al-Assad family asylum on ‘humanitarian grounds’, Russian news agencies report.
Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Russia after being granted asylum by Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported, citing a Kremlin source.
Russia has granted the family asylum on “humanitarian grounds”, the Interfax, TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies reported on Sunday, quoting the unnamed source.
Al-Assad’s whereabouts were unknown after armed opposition fighters captured Damascus in the early hours of Sunday morning, declaring that his government had been toppled. The advance came less than two weeks into the opposition’s lightning offensive.
“Right now we see that a number of sources, including the BBC’s Russian service, for instance, have reported that al-Assad could possibly have been evacuated by a Russian plane from a Russian air base in Latakia, Syria that took off several hours ago with its transponders turned off,” Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said from Russia’s capital Moscow.
Speaking at the White House, US President Joe Biden stated that he was not sure where al-Assad was, but that “there is word he is in Moscow”.
