Moscow persuaded Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia with his family after realizing his regime was bound to lose to the opposition's rapid advance, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 11, citing its sources.
Syrian rebels announced on Dec. 8 that they successfully ousted Assad from power following a lightning offensive across the country, which culminated with the capture of the capital city of Damascus.
Assad was swiftly flown out of the country via a Russian airbase by Moscow's intelligence agents to avoid his capture by the rebels, Bloomberg wrote. The airplane’s transponder was likely turned off to avoid being tracked, the outlet's source said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed on Dec. 10 that Russia is sheltering the ousted Syrian dictator.
According to Bloomberg, Russian President Vladimir Putin was questioning his security services over their failure to spot the growing threat to Assad’s regime until it was too late.
Moscow deployed its troops to Syria in 2015, providing support to the Assad regime against multiple anti-government forces. Damascus has been supportive of the Kremlin during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Russian forces operating in Syria have been accused by the U.N. and other organizations of committing war crimes in the country, including the intentional bombing of hospitals and the usage of "double-tap" attacks, a tactic Russia has repeated in Ukraine.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
