CNN
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As many in Syria celebrated the end of the long rule of Bashar al-Assad, rumors swirled about his whereabouts. After a day of intrigue, the mystery was solved when Russian state media announced he had landed in Moscow.
“Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them asylum,” a Kremlin source said, according to TASS.
Since the uprising began, and the rebels rapidly advanced through the country, Assad had kept a low profile.
After meeting with Iran’s foreign minister last weekend, he pledged to fight “terrorist organizations” but has otherwise made little comment as the rebels captured major cities.
On Saturday, as the rebels encircled Damascus, a source told CNN that Assad was nowhere to be found in the city.
Assad’s Presidential Guard were also no longer deployed at his usual residence, as they would be if he was there, the source said, fueling speculation ahead of Sunday’s developments that he may have escaped.
Syria’s presidential office initially denied that Assad had left Damascus or travelled to another country, saying that some foreign media outlets were “spreading rumors and false news.”
After the rebels took the capital, they said he had fled and were searching for him. Some of the fighters along with civilians began ransacking his official residences.
Amid the rumors, Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday saying Assad had “decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully.”
The statement added that Russia “did not participate in these negotiations.” Later came the disclosure that Assad had arrived in Moscow.
A source close to the rebels told CNN that the ousted president had left Damascus under Russian protection, and a separate source said he traveled to Latakia in northwest Syria, where Russia has an airbase.
Flight tracking data shows that a plane departed from Damascus airport at just before 2 a.m. local time on Sunday in the direction of the coast before making a sudden U-turn over the city of Homs and disappearing off the map. CNN cannot confirm whether Assad was on this flight.
Russia was the obvious destination – President Vladimir Putin was a longtime ally and supported the Syrian regime with air power and other military aid. Whether Moscow is Assad’s permanent destination, it is an abrupt and ignominious end to more than two decades in power.