Russia granted asylum to ousted Syrian President al-Assad, Kremlin confirms | News of Bashar al-Assad

The decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum comes amid concerns over Russian military bases in Syria.

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been granted asylum in Russia as he is fleeing the lightning of opposition forces, and said that this decision was taken by President Vladimir Putin personally.

“Yes, decisions like these cannot be taken without the head of state. His own [Putin’s] decision,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. However, he refused to comment on al-Assad’s location saying that Putin had not planned to meet him.

“The Russian authorities have granted political asylum,” Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said, reporting from Moscow. “We see reports that Russia did not abandon the Syrian president who resigned under such difficult circumstances. Al-Assad was said to have been taken out by a Russian plane from a Russian airbase in Latakia. “

Shapovalova said that it remains to be seen how the decision to grant asylum to your former leader will affect Russia and its assets in Syria.

“The most important question is the fate of the Russian military bases,” which are the military base in Tartous and the air base in Hmeimim, Latakia, Shapovalova said.

Our reporter added that the Kremlin is taking security measures to ensure the safety of its personnel but incoming reports from Tartous suggest that no threat is imminent.

The Kremlin said it was too early to say what the future holds for Russian military bases in Syria. “All this is a topic for discussion with those who will be in charge in Syria,” said Peskov.

The Tartous base is Russia’s only Mediterranean repair and rehabilitation center, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging area to fly its military contractors in and out of African countries.

Referring to the broader regional and international situation, the Kremlin spokesman added that he sees a difficult time with high potential for conflict. “We see the situation around Ukraine, we see many conflicting statements about this, we see the possible escalation of conflicts in other regions, we can say the Middle East flares up,” he said.

Concerns are mounting about Syria’s future leadership

The lightning advance of the opposition coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former affiliate of al-Qaeda, stunned the world on Sunday and Russia was no exception.

HTS is still designated a terrorist group by the United Nations and many countries, but it has spent years trying to soften its image and distance itself from its al-Qaeda roots in favor of foreign countries and smaller groups inside Syria.

Peskov said that Moscow is communicating with Ankara and other regional players about the situation in Syria and that Russia is ready to negotiate with all countries in the region in the face of future instability.

Russia, Turkey and Iran have been holding talks on Syria’s future together as part of what is known as the Astana peace process.

The fall of Al-Assad has destroyed one of the major bases on which Iran and Russia have exercised power throughout the region. Turkiye, a long-time ally of al-Assad’s enemies, has become stronger, while Israel credits this as a blow to al-Assad’s Iran-backed allies.

On Monday, the Israeli army published pictures of its forces in the border area of ​​Mount Hermon. It said it was attacking areas suspected of having chemical weapons and long-range rockets to prevent them from falling into the hands of opposition forces.

Israel attacked bases linked to Iran in Syria on Sunday and pushed tanks across the border into a demilitarized zone to prevent an outbreak of violence, but said it intended to stay out of the conflict.