DAMASCUS: Syrians woke up on Monday (Dec 9) to a hopeful if unsure future, after rebels seized the capital Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, ending a 13-year civil warfare and greater than 50 years of his household’s brutal rule.
The lightning advance of a militia alliance spearheaded by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, marked one of many greatest turning factors for the Center East in generations. Assad’s fall worn out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised affect throughout the Arab world.
Moscow gave asylum to Assad and his household, Russian media reported and Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to worldwide organisations in Vienna, mentioned on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
Worldwide governments welcomed the top of the Assads’ autocratic authorities, as they sought to take inventory of a new-look Center East.
US President Joe Biden mentioned Syria is in a interval of danger and uncertainty, and it’s the first time in years that neither Russia, Iran nor the Hezbollah militant organisation held an influential function there.
HTS continues to be designated as a terrorist group by the US, Türkiye and the United Nations, though it has spent years attempting to melt its picture to reassure worldwide governments and minority teams inside Syria.
Japan’s chief cupboard secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, mentioned on Monday Tokyo was paying shut consideration to developments in Syria.
Assad’s overthrow limits Iran’s potential to unfold weapons to its allies and will value Russia its Mediterranean naval base. It may additionally enable hundreds of thousands of refugees scattered for greater than a decade in camps throughout Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan to lastly return dwelling.
