Damascus falls to rebels; Prez Assad escapes to Russia

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia on Sunday, bringing to a dramatic end his family’s over 50 years of reign, the last 14 years of which were marked by a civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.

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“Damascus (the capital city) has been liberated and the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been ousted, and oppressed prisoners in regime jails have been released,” a spokesperson for the armed rebels, who led the fight against the President, was quoted as saying by news agencies.

All indians safe

The Indian Embassy continues to remain operational in Damascus. Sources said the embassy was in touch with all Indians, and that they were safe. “The embassy remains available to assist Indians,” they said.

Assad and his family had arrived in Russia and were granted asylum, Russian news agencies reported, citing a Kremlin source. The Interfax news agency quoted the unnamed source as saying: “President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted him and his family asylum on humanitarian grounds.”

Assad’s ouster today had its roots in the 2011 protests and the subsequent civil war during which President Assad lost control over vast territories. Russia, which had backed the Assad regime, said the President had left office and departed the country after giving orders for a “peaceful handover of power”.

In the US, National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett wrote on X that President Joe Biden and his advisers were “closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners”. There are about 900 US troops in Syria who are yet to be relocated.

Syrian PM Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali (as quoted by Reuters) said the “government stood ready to cooperate with any leadership the people chose”. Opposition leader Abu Mohammad Al-Julani said all state institutions would remain under the supervision of Assad’s PM until “these were handed over officially”. Al-Julani heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and has ruled the governorate of Idlib for years before the latest offensive was launched.

The events in Syria over the past few weeks have been a re-run of the happenings in Bangladesh where PM Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee her country in August following street protests. Hasina had boarded a military plane and landed in India. In 2021, the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan in a similar fashion.

Adding to the developments in Syria, US President-elect Donald Trump posted on X, “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend…. The US should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved.” The US, Russia, Iran and Turkey have in the past intervened at various points in time in Syria. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu today said Assad’s fall was a direct fallout of the blows Israel had dealt to Iran and its ally Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the “barbaric state had fallen”. He paid tribute to the Syrian people. The Iranian embassy was stormed by Syrian rebels, Iran’s media reported. In response, Tehran said Syria’s fate was the sole responsibility of the Syrian people and should be “pursued without foreign imposition or destructive intervention”.