As rebels continue to take control of more cities in Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s family is reported to have fled to Russia, the Wall Street Journal has reported. This includes his wife, children and two of his brothers-in-law......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
The report on Friday (Dec 6), citing Syrian security officials and Arab officials, said Asma al-Assad, the Syrian president’s British-born wife, fled with their three children last week.
His brothers-in-law have travelled to the United Arab Emirates, as per the newspaper.
Whether or not Assad is still in Syria remains unclear.
According to Bloomberg News, a source close to the Kremlin stated that Russia doesn’t plan on rescuing the Syrian president. President Vladimir Putin is apparently not happy to see the Assad regime troops fleeing their positions.
“Russia doesn’t have a plan to save Assad and doesn’t see one emerging as long as the Syrian president’s army continues to abandon its positions,” said the source.
A pro-Assad TV news channel said on Friday that the president was in Iran, before withdrawing the report.
Reports suggest that Egyptian and Jordanian officials want Assad to leave the country and form a government-in-exile.
Assad loses more cities
The Syrian forces lost control of another city, Daraa, to local armed groups, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“Local factions have taken control of more areas in Daraa province, including Daraa city… they now control more than 90 percent of the province, as regime forces successively pulled out,” the Britain-based war monitor, which relies on a network of sources around Syria, said late Friday.
India, US, Russia and Pakistan have issued advisories to their citizens, urging them to leave as soon as possible and avoid travel to Syria.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in a late night advisory, asked its citizens to leave the country at the earliest. “In view of the situation prevailing in Syria, Indian nationals are advised to avoid all travel to Syria, until further notification,” the MEA said.
“Indians currently in Syria are requested to remain in touch with the Indian Embassy in Damascus at their emergency helpline number +963 993385973 (also on WhatsApp) and email ID hoc.damascus@mea.gov.in for updates.”
“Those who can, are advised to leave by the earliest available commercial flights and others are requested to observe utmost precaution about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum.”
Syria’s civil war has left more than 500,000 people dead in nearly 15 years, and forced more than half the population to flee their homes.
This is the first time in the war that Assad’s forces have lost control of so many key cities in such a short space of time.
