 "Why Syria’s Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia after rebels led to his fall")
“Syria is ours and not the Assad family’s.”
“This is the start of a new era for Syria.”
Chants and slogans like these rang out loud in Syria after the government collapsed and President Bashar al-Assad fled the country, reportedly now taking refuge in Russia.
Eleven days after rebels headed by the chief of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group — Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani — began their new advance, the Syrian regime collapsed on Sunday (December 8), marking the end of the Assad regime.
As the rebels took control of Damascus, reports emerged that Assad and his family had fled Syria. Initially, there was no clarity as to where he was, but later Sunday night, Russian media reported that Assad and his family were in Moscow after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds.
But why Moscow? We get you the answers.
Assad flees Syria
On Saturday (December 7), as Syrian rebels edged towards Damascus, Assad was nowhere to be seen. CNN also reported that Assad’s Presidential Guard were also no longer deployed at his usual residence.
Then on Sunday, as rebels took over Damascus and announced the end of the Assad regime, the whereabouts of Assad remained unknown. When asked about Assad’s whereabouts, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, Syria’s prime minister, told al-Arabia that he had not been able to speak with Assad since Saturday despite claims by state media on that day that Assad remained in Damascus in office.
Later, Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, was quoted as telling AP that the president had left Damascus on Sunday morning, which was corroborated by Reuters.
FlightRadar24.com showed an Ilyushin aircraft departing Damascus airport around the time rebels seized the city, with no destination listed.
According to Abdurrahman, the plane was initially supposed to take off at 10 pm on Saturday. Flightradar showed that after taking off, the cargo plane flew east from the capital, then northwest before losing altitude near the central city of Homs where the flight transponder signal was lost.
Reuters citing Syrian sources said the disappearance might be due to the tracking system being disabled or the aircraft being shot down.
There was another flight that flew out of Syria on Sunday morning, but that departed hours after rebels entered Damascus.
Assad granted asylum in Russia
The mystery of Assad’s location was finally solved on Sunday night when Russian news agencies reported that Assad and his family had arrived in the country and had been granted asylum by the Vladimir Putin-led nation.
Russia has granted the family asylum on “humanitarian grounds”, the Interfax, TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies reported on Sunday, quoting an unnamed Kremlin source.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organisations in Vienna, said on his Telegram channel: “Breaking news! Bashar al-Assad and his family in Moscow. Russia does not betray friends in difficult situations.”
As per a Wall Street Journal report, Assad was in Moscow with his family on the advice of Egypt and Jordan, whereas, Bloomberg reported that Assad might agree to a self-style exile agreement in Tehran.
US President Joe Biden, in his address on the Syria situation, said that he was unsure on the location of Assad, but that “there is word he is in Moscow”.
Russian news agencies also reported that the opposition leaders in Syria had vowed for the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of Syria.
Why Assad chose Russia
That Assad chose to flee to Russia comes as no surprise. The ousted Syrian president shares a long history of friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Moscow has been a staunch supporter of Assad and his regime.
According to experts, Russia’s support for Syria increased dramatically in 2011 amid the Arab Spring — a series of uprisings across West Asia. When Libya overthrew Moammer Gaddafi, Putin started to look for allies elsewhere in the region. As Margot Light, professor emeritus in international relations at LSE, was quoted as telling BBC, “They were thinking not in the interests of Syria, but in their own interests.”
Since 2011, Moscow has lent Assad support — be it militarily or diplomatically. Amid the civil war, Putin’s military has dropped bomb on targets within Syria. His forces have also operated on the ground in government-held areas. Moreover, on occasions, Russian military police has de-escalated clashes in the region.
In 2015, Putin in a United Nations’ speech also called the West’s refusal to back Assad an “enormous mistake.” Russia has also used its veto powers on numerous occasions on the UN Security Council to block resolutions on Syria.
Many note that Putin’s support of Assad and Syria has helped Russia carve out a presence in West Asia, and build relations with many countries - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates in particular.
It remains to be seen what happens next in Syria as well as West Asia. But some experts believe that Putin will hope that Syria descends into chaos.
With inputs from agencies
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