Putting an end to all speculations, Moscow confirmed on December 9, 2024 that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Russia as the Vladimir Putin Administration gave asylum to him and his family. According to the Russian state media Sputnik International, they have been granted asylum on humanitarian grounds.

al-Assad left Syria on December 8 morning just before the rebel forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant outfit and its affiliate Jaish al-Izza (the Army of Pride), captured the capital city of Damascus. Reuters reported that the plane, carrying al-Assad, crashed or was shot down outside Lebanon! The Ilyushin-76 aircraft was heading to the Syrian coast, a stronghold of al-Assad’s Alawite sect, before it abruptly took a U-turn and disappeared from radar. According to experts, the sudden disappearance and altitude change suggest that the plane was shot down! A section of Syrian officials claimed that the aircraft met with an accident. However, Moscow announced on December 9 that the ousted President safely reached Russia.

According to sources close to the Kremlin, Russia has been talking about a fair political solution to the Syrian crisis for a long time. Moscow wants the UN to restart talks with the Syrian rebels in this regard. Sources said that Russia was maintaining contact with armed rebel groups in Syria and the rebel leaders vowed to protect Russian bases, as well as embassies, in the West Asian nation. Sources further claimed that President Putin was interested in protecting the interests of the Syrian people in the changing situation, apart from strengthening Russia-Syria relations. He is eager to continue the political dialogue on this issue. It may be noted that al-Assad has always had Putin’s support during the civil war that began in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal claimed on December 8 that Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma Fawaz al-Assad, along with their three sons (Hafez, Zein and Karim), fled to Russia in the first week of December (before the fall of Damascus)! The Wall Street Journal reported that it received the information from the Syrian security officials. For the al-Assad family, there was a possibility of leaving the war-torn West Asian nation for a safe haven in the recent past. Some countries had offered shelter to the former First Lady of Syria. During an interview in 2016, Asma stressed that she refused to leave her husband, fearing that people would lose faith in their President in that case.

Asma met al-Assad while studying in a college in London. They tied the nuptial knot in 2000. She did not say a single word against her husband when there were repeated allegations of Human Rights violations in Syria. When al-Assad became the President on June 24, 2000, his countrymen thought that their new President and his wife, who studied in Britain, would walk on the path of reforms. They also thought that al-Assad would end the dictatorship that had been in Syria for nearly three decades.

Initially, al-Assad adopted various reform programmes and common people could easily access him. Asma, too, was involved in various social activities. However, the anger of the common people against the President started to increase mainly because of corruption, unemployment and price hike. When people staged Anti-Government Protests in 2011, al-Assad used force against the protesters. He, gradually, became a dictator and started ruling Syria with an iron fist.

Along with Russia, Iran, the US and Turkey have been crucial players throughout the Syrian civil war. Experts have mentioned how the recent opposition offensive came as al-Assad’s three key allies – Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah – were stretched thin with Russia’s focus on Ukraine, Iran’s setbacks from Israeli strikes and Hezbollah’s hesitance to commit additional fighters.

In a development that is being widely called earth shaking, Syrian rebels led by the HTS Islamist group have also opened the doors of the regime’s infamous prisons, including the Saydnaya. An estimated 100,000 people had been held there, most without trial, in the course of the 14-year civil war.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das