“Assad, along with members of his family, has arrived in Moscow. Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” a source told TASS.
The swift capture of the Syrian capital marks the culmination of a large-scale offensive launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Led by a former Al-Qaeda commander and previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra, the group initiated a surprise offensive from the opposition-held province of Idlib in northern Syria last week.
Militants had previously driven the Syrian Army from the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs, border before advancing into Damascus.