Russia has confirmed it smuggled President Bashar al-Assad out of Syria after the dictator’s ally revealed more details of his escape.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Assad was transported to Moscow “as safely as possible” following the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship over the weekend.
talking to NBC NewsMr Ryabkov said: “He is safe and it shows that Russia is acting as necessary in such an extraordinary situation.”
He said he “had no idea what was going on with him at the moment” and added that “it would be very wrong of me to give any more details about what happened and how it was resolved.”
Russia was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war and helped maintain his family’s brutal dynasty that had ruled Syria for more than 50 years.
Human rights groups have previously accused Assad of war crimes, including using chemical weapons against civilians, but Ryabkov ruled out handing the leader over to stand trial.
“Russia is not a party to the convention that created the International Criminal Court,” he said.
Putin has also created a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – which is Russia’s only naval center in the Mediterranean – and approximately 7,000 military personnel on the ground as recently as this summer.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Vladimir Putin in 2018. Russia was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war and helped maintain his family’s brutal dynasty that had ruled Syria for more than 50 years.
Rebel fighters hold the Syrian flag at the burned grave of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
Sergei Ryabkov (pictured), Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Assad was transported to Moscow “as safely as possible” following the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship over the weekend.
Assad with his British-born wife Asma and their children in 2022. Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the weekend, Assad and his family will now begin a new life in Russia.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, told the international press this morning that Russia was in contact with the rebels through its military bases.
He said: “Of course, we maintain contacts with those who currently control the situation in Syria,” Peskov said in a conference call with journalists.
“This is necessary because our bases are located there, our diplomatic mission is located there and, of course, the issue of ensuring the security of these facilities is extremely important and of paramount importance.”
Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the weekend, Assad and his family will now begin a new life in Russia.
They are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of maintaining their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family have bought at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30m in recent years, illustrating Russia’s status as a safe haven for the clan.
This included the purchase of at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.
The two-tower skyscraper, which until the opening of London’s Shard in 2012 was the tallest building in Europe, is home to some of Russia’s richest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.
Putin hugs Assad during a meeting in 2017. Russia has created a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus, which is the only Russian naval center in the Mediterranean.
Rebel fighters set fire to Hafez al-Assad’s grave. Syrians for the first time in six decades look to a future without the Assad family
Assad’s extended family reportedly bought at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.
Meanwhile, in Syria its citizens are seeking to rebuild their nation after 13 years of war and, for the first time in six decades, looking to a future without the autocratic rule of the Assad family.
Far from the thousands of Syrians taking to the streets to celebrate, the true horrors of the Assad regime are only just being discovered.
Many have traveled to the infamous Sednaya prison near Damascus, nicknamed the “Human Slaughterhouse” in the hope of finding long-lost relatives.
The prison was the epicenter of this systematic terror where a large number of detainees were subjected to all types of inhuman treatment and executed.
Dark images and footage released this week showed how horrified rescuers pulled dozens upon dozens of body bags containing decomposing corpses from deep within the facility.
But there are dozens more facilities across the country where victims of the Assad regime were left to suffer and die.
Now, as survivors of these hellish prisons emerge to reunite with their families and give chilling testimonies about life behind bars, those held responsible for orchestrating the horrors could soon face their comeuppance.
The leader of the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which played a leading role in the lightning offensive that toppled Assad, has vowed to pursue officials, security forces and army officers who “tortured” Assad. Syrian people.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Sunday, December 8, 2024
An aerial view of the Sednaya military prison after armed groups opposing the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad took control of Damascus. The prison was the epicenter of this systematic terror where a large number of detainees were subjected to all types of inhuman treatment and executed.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has vowed to rebuild Syria and HTS has spent years trying to soften his image to reassure foreign nations and minority groups.
But he openly declared that he would hold accountable those found to have been involved in “war crimes” against Syrians.
The detention centers of the Assad regime in Syria represented one of the most depraved systems of institutionalized torture in modern history.
The prison system under Assad was not merely punitive; It was a mechanism calculated to crush dissent and terrorize populations.
No one was safe from Assad’s maniacal security forces.
Rebel fighters were imprisoned along with intellectuals, activists, and ordinary civilians; All were subjected to atrocious treatment, in many cases over several decades.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights says that since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, more than 157,000 people remain arrested or have been forcibly disappeared, including 5,274 children and 10,221 women.
More than 15,000 people are said to have died under torture during that time.