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”.

Advertisement

“The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country,” Biden also said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had said earlier on Sunday that al-Assad had resigned and left Syria.

Crowds ransacked the deposed leader’s opulent home after the opposition forces declared he had fled.

Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets shortly after rebel factions declared “the city of Damascus free”.

Meanwhile, Russian news agencies also reported that Syrian opposition leaders have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions inside Syria.

“Russian officials are in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, whose leaders have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of Syria,” TASS reported, citing a Kremlin source.

That is despite Russia having been an active participant in Syria’s war, supporting al-Assad and carrying out repeated bombing raids on opposition areas, resulting in the deaths of civilians. Russian support reversed the tide of the war in 2015, when opposition fighters were threatening Damascus. Instead, al-Assad was able to push the opposition to enclaves in the north of the country, until the rapid rebel advance that began in late November.

The events of Sunday came after 13 years of war, which also put an end to more than half a century of the al-Assad family’s rule.

Advertisement

The Syrian war started as a largely unarmed uprising against al-Assad in March 2011, which eventually became an all-out war that dragged in foreign powers, killed hundreds of thousands of people and turned millions into refugees across the world.