Ousted former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has found asylum in Russia after fleeing his country on Sunday, according to Kremlin sources quoted in the international media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had propped up the Assad regime for ten years, an extension of Soviet-era support. But with troops tied down in Ukraine, he could not help defend the regime when Syrian rebels began advancing after Hezbollah had been decimated by Israel in the Lebanon war.
The BBC reported: “Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, Russian state media agencies report, citing sources in the Kremlin.” It added that Russian sources reported that Assad had been given asylum, noting that the BBC had not been able to verify those reports.
Russia had supported Syria since a botched diplomatic effort by President Barack Obama to rid Syria of its chemical weapons led to Putin restoring a Kremlin foothold in the Middle East. Currently, there are still Russian naval forces in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia on the Mediterranean.
Despite Russian and Iranian support for the regime, the Syrian rebels appeared to advance over the past two weeks almost without resistance, until reaching Damascus early Sunday morning.
There were reports that Assad’s escape flight may have crashed, but those now appear to describe a separate flight.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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