Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad
President Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown in Syria. With the capture of the Syrian capital Damascus by the rebels, the 50-year rule of the Assad family came to an end and that too in just a few hours. President Assad has fled the country to Russia and has been granted political asylum by President Vladimir Putin. According to reports from Russian news agencies, Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad has reached Moscow with his family and has been granted asylum. Just hours before this, rebels had entered the capital Damascus, ending the 50-year rule of the Assad family.
Russian news agencies ‘Tass’ and ‘RIA’, citing an unnamed source in the presidential office of the ‘Kremlin’, reported that Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow. Citing an unnamed Kremlin source, the RIA news also said that Russia has received a guarantee from the Syrian rebels on the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic offices in Syria. However, detailed information was not given in the news. Assad left Syria early on Sunday.
Rebel fighters captured the capital Damascus
There was a fight for control between the rebel groups and the army in Syria for the last 11 days, where the rebel fighters also captured the capital Damascus on Sunday, after which everyone was seen celebrating the victory by firing on the streets. Celebrating crowds gathered in squares in Damascus waving the Syrian revolutionary flag, reminiscent of the early days of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprising. After no news from Assad and other top officials, many people vandalized the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the residence of the Assad family.
MEA issued advisory
On the other hand, amid the ongoing uproar in Syria, India has advised its citizens to avoid traveling there. Also appealed to the citizens living in Syria to exercise caution.
Assad came to power in 2000
Assad came to power in 2000. His father was trying to name Bashar’s eldest brother, Basil al-Assad, as his successor, but in 1994, Basil was killed in a car accident in Damascus. Bashar al-Assad has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the civil war, including a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of the capital in 2013. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was “sorry for the Syrian people.” Russia is Assad’s main supporter.
The attack started on 27 November
The rebel offensive in Syria began on November 27 when gunmen captured Aleppo, Syria’s largest northern city, and Hama, the country’s fourth-largest city. The fall of Assad’s government on Sunday marked a dramatic end to his nearly 14-year struggle to hold on to power. Nearly half a million people have been killed in the Syrian civil war and half the country’s population has been displaced. As the rebellion turned into civil war, millions of Syrians fled across the border to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon, and to Europe.
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