Syria\u2019s ousted president Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies, hours after he fled the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes as Russia, a key Assad ally, called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council on the fast-changing situation on the ground in the war-torn country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAssad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,\u201d the source told the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. \u201cRussia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether Assad was confirmed to be in Moscow, a Western official said they believed that was likely the case and had no reason to doubt Moscow\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kremlin source also said the rebels who ousted Assad in a lightning offensive \u201cguaranteed the security of Russian army bases and diplomatic institutions on Syria\u2019s territory\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia, Assad\u2019s biggest backer along with Iran, holds a naval base in Tartus and a military airfield in Khmeimim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow\u2019s forces became militarily involved in the Syrian conflict in 2015, providing support for Assad\u2019s forces to crush the opposition in the bloody civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRussia has always been in favour of a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Our starting point is the need to resume negotiations under the auspices of the UN,\u201d the Kremlin source added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Russian representative to the United Nations announced that Moscow had requested an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria for Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe consequences (of the events in Syria) for this country and the whole region have not yet been measured,\u201d the official said on Telegram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Syria\u2019s ousted president Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies, hours after he fled the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_rishi_post_view_count":188},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","rishi-post"],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","comments_count":"0","yoast_head":"\n