Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes arms together with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad throughout a gathering in Sochi on November 20, 2017.
Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday, Russian media reported, hours after a surprising insurgent advance took over the capital of Damascus and ended the Assad household’s 50 years of iron rule.
The Russian businesses, Tass and RIA, cited an unidentified Kremlin supply on Assad and his household being given asylum in Moscow, his longtime ally and protector. The Related Press was not instantly in a position to confirm the experiences however contacted the Kremlin for remark.
RIA additionally mentioned Moscow had acquired ensures from Syrian insurgents of the safety of Russian navy bases and diplomatic posts in Syria.
Assad reportedly left Syria early Sunday, and Syrians have been pouring into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire after a surprising insurgent advance reached the capital, ending the Assad household’s 50 years of iron rule.
The swiftly shifting occasions have raised questions on the way forward for the nation and the broader area. Russia has requested an emergency session of the U.N. Safety Council focus on the scenario in Syria, Russia’s first deputy everlasting consultant to the U.N., Dmitry Polyansky, posted on Telegram.
Joyful crowds gathered in squares in Damascus, waving the Syrian revolutionary flag in scenes that recalled the early days of the Arab Spring rebellion, earlier than a brutal crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the nation into an almost 14-year civil conflict.
Others gleefully ransacked the presidential palace and residence after Assad and different high officers vanished.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida commander who minimize ties with the group years in the past and says he embraces pluralism and non secular tolerance, leads the most important insurgent faction and is poised to chart the nation’s future.
In his first public look since fighters entered the Damascus suburbs Saturday, al-Golani visited the sprawling Umayyad Mosque and referred to as Assad’s fall “a victory to the Islamic nation.” Calling himself by his given identify, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and never his nom de guerre, he advised tons of of folks that Assad had made Syria “a farm for Iran’s greed.”
The rebels face the daunting job of therapeutic bitter divisions in a rustic ravaged by conflict and nonetheless break up amongst armed factions. Turkey-backed opposition fighters are battling U.S.-allied Kurdish forces within the north, and the Islamic State group remains to be energetic in some distant areas.
Syrian state tv broadcast a insurgent assertion early Sunday saying Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been launched. They referred to as on folks to protect the establishments of “the free Syrian state.” The rebels later introduced a curfew in Damascus from 4 p.m. to five a.m.
The rebels mentioned they freed folks held on the infamous Saydnaya jail, the place rights teams say 1000’s had been tortured and killed. A video circulating on-line purported to indicate rebels breaking open cell doorways and liberating dozens of feminine prisoners, a lot of whom appeared shocked. At the least one small little one was seen amongst them.
“This happiness won’t be accomplished till I can see my son out of jail and know the place is he,” mentioned one relative, Bassam Masr. “I’ve been trying to find him for 2 hours. He has been detained for 13 years.”
Insurgent commander Anas Salkhadi later appeared on state TV and sought to reassure Syria’s spiritual and ethnic minorities, saying: “Syria is for everybody, no exceptions. Syria is for Druze, Sunnis, Alawites, and all sects.”
“We won’t cope with folks the best way the Assad household did,” he added.
Celebrations within the capital
Damascus residents prayed in mosques and celebrated in squares, calling, “God is nice.” Individuals chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked automobile horns. Teenage boys picked up weapons apparently discarded by safety forces and fired into the air.
Revelers crammed Umayyad Sq., the place the Protection Ministry is positioned. Some waved the three-starred Syrian flag that predates the Assad authorities and was adopted by the revolutionaries. Elsewhere, many components of the capital had been empty and retailers had been closed.
Troopers and police left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Protection Ministry. Movies confirmed households wandering the presidential palace, some carrying stacks of plates and different home goods.
“It is like a dream. I want somebody to wake me up,” mentioned opposition fighter Abu Laith, including the rebels had been welcomed in Damascus with “love.”
On the Justice Ministry, the place rebels stood guard, Decide Khitam Haddad mentioned they had been defending paperwork from the chaos. Exterior, some residents sought details about family members who disappeared underneath Assad.
The rebels “have felt the ache of the folks,” mentioned one girl, giving solely her first identify, Heba. She fearful about doable revenge killings by the rebels, a lot of whom seemed to be underage.
Syria’s al-Watan newspaper, which was traditionally pro-government, wrote: “We face a brand new web page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding extra blood.” It added that media employees shouldn’t be blamed for publishing previous authorities statements, saying it “solely carried out the directions.”
A press release from the Alawite sect that has shaped the core of Assad’s base referred to as on younger Syrians to be “calm, rational and prudent and to not be dragged into what tears aside the unity of our nation.”
The rebels primarily come from the Sunni Muslim majority in Syria, which additionally has sizable Druze, Christian and Kurdish communities. In Qamishli within the northeast, a Kurdish man slapped a statue of the late chief Hafez Assad together with his shoe.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali mentioned the federal government was able to “lengthen its hand” to the opposition and switch its capabilities over to a transitional authorities. A video shared on Syrian opposition media confirmed armed males escorting him from his workplace and to the 4 Seasons resort on Sunday.
Anwar Gargash mentioned Assad’s vacation spot at this level is a “footnote in historical past,” evaluating it to the lengthy exile of German Kaiser Wilhelm II after World Struggle I.
Requires orderly transition
The insurgent advances since Nov. 27 had been the biggest lately, and noticed the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs fall inside days because the Syrian military melted away. Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which supplied essential help to Assad all through the rebellion, deserted him as they reeled from different conflicts.
The top of Assad’s rule was a serious blow to Iran and its allies, already weakened by battle with Israel. Iran, which had strongly backed him all through the civil conflict, mentioned Syrians ought to resolve their future “with out damaging, coercive, international intervention.” The Iranian Embassy in Damascus was ransacked after apparently having been deserted.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the meantime mentioned Israeli troops had seized a buffer zone within the Golan Heights established in 1974, saying it was to guard Israeli residents after Syrian troops deserted positions. Israel’s navy later warned residents of 5 southern Syria communities to remain house for his or her security, and did not reply to questions.
Israel captured the Golan within the 1967 Mideast conflict and later annexed it. The worldwide neighborhood, apart from the US, views it as occupied, and the Arab League on Sunday condemned what it referred to as Israel’s efforts to make the most of Assad’s downfall occupy extra territory.
The rebels are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, which has its origins in al-Qaida and is taken into account a terrorist group by the US and the United Nations. Al-Golani, has sought to recast the group as a reasonable and tolerant power.
“Golani has made historical past and sparked hope amongst thousands and thousands of Syrians,” mentioned Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser with the Worldwide Disaster Group. “However he and the rebels now face a formidable problem forward.”
The U.N.’s particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, referred to as Saturday for pressing talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition.”
The Gulf nation of Qatar, a key regional mediator, hosted an emergency assembly of international ministers and high officers from eight nations with pursuits in Syria late Saturday. They included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey.
Majed al-Ansari, Qatar’s Overseas Ministry spokesman, mentioned they agreed on the necessity “to have interaction all events on the bottom,” together with the HTS, and that the principle concern is “stability and secure transition.”
