MOSCOW: Syria’s ousted president Bashar Assad and his family are in Moscow, Russian news agencies announced Sunday evening citing a Kremlin source, hours after he fled the country as opposition forces entered Damascus.
“Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,” the source told the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. “Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” he added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Sunday that Syrian President Assad had left office and departed the country after giving orders there be a peaceful handover of power.
“As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to resign from the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power” the ministry said in a statement. “Russia did not participate in these negotiations.”
Moscow was extremely worried by events in Syria and urged all sides to refrain from violence, it said.
“We urge all parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means,” the statement said.
“In that regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition.”
It said Russia’s military bases in Syria had been put on a state of high alert, but that there was no serious threat to them at the current time.
Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers earlier said, as the opposition announced they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by opposition forces, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Syrian foreign ministry says will continue to serve citizens abroad
Syria’s foreign ministry said Sunday that it would continue to serve citizens abroad after opposition forces seized the capital Damascus.
The ministry “and its diplomatic missions abroad will remain committed to serving” and assisting all citizens, its website said, as several other ministries and public institutions called on employees to return to work, reassuring Syrians services would continue.
Syrian PM calls for free elections, confirms contact with opposition leader
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali said on Sunday that Syria should hold free elections to allow its people to decide their leadership.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Jalali also said he had been in contact with opposition commander Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani to discuss managing the current transitional period, marking a notable development in efforts to shape Syria’s political future.
Opposition statement read over state TV
Syrian state television earlier aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free.
The man who read the statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, an opposition group, is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”
“Long live the free Syrian state that is to all Syrians in all” their sects and ethnic groups, the men said.
Official institutions in Damascus to remain under the prime minister
The leader of Syrian opposition group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, ordered forces Sunday not to approach official institutions in Damascus, saying they would remain under the prime minister until they are “officially” handed over.
“To all military forces in the city of Damascus, it is strictly forbidden to approach public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over,” Jolani said in a statement on Telegram, using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa instead of his nom de guerre, and adding: “It is forbidden to shoot into the air.”
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Jalali said Sunday he was ready to “cooperate” with any leadership chosen by the people.
In a speech broadcast on his Facebook account, premier Jalali said “this country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world.”
“But this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with it (that leadership) and offer all possible facilities,” he added.
Jalali said he was “ready for any handover procedures.”
Transfer of power to a transitional governing body
The Syrian opposition coalition said it is continuing work to complete the transfer of power in Syria to a transitional governing body with full executive powers.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” it added in a statement
Just hours earlier, opposition forces announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.
Intense sounds of shooting were heard in the center of the Damascus, two residents said on Sunday, although it was not immediately clear what the source of the shooting was.
In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and opposition forces took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule.
Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar Assad.”
Opposition forces fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.
The fall of Homs gives the opposition control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval and air base.
Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the opposition movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between opposition forces and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the opposition forces, who were forced out.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, the main opposition leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”
Opposition forces freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.
Syrian opposition commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and opposition forces were looking toward the capital.
Existential threat to region
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.
But there was no indication they agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.
Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in big outside powers and sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the strongest opposition group, is the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a “terrorist organization,” and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose a strict rule.
Jolani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the opposition captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.
When asked on Saturday whether he believed Jolani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group withdrew from the Syrian city of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon before opposition forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.
At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, long a point on the route for arms transfers and fighters moving in and out of Syria, the sources said. Israel hit one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.
Allies’ role in supporting Assad
Assad long relied on allies to subdue the opposition. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces, including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia, to reinforce the Syrian military and storm opposition strongholds.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should not be involved in the conflict and should “let it play out.”