After rebels overran the Syrian capital in a lightning strike, Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Damascus, fled to Moscow and was given shelter on “humanitarian grounds.”
Assad and his family arrived in the city on Sunday night, according to Russian state media, after his palace was ransacked and hundreds of his captives were freed, bringing an abrupt end to his family’s decades-long reign.
Following Assad, Israel struck military sites and took over border area out of concern for the Islamist rebels, who now control a sizable portion of Syria.
Early Sunday morning saw the fall of Damascus, the capital of Syria, to an alliance headed by the rebel organization/
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), bringing an end to a 13-year civil conflict that has claimed the lives of over half a million people.
HTS commander Mohammad al-Jolani declared victory in a speech at the city’s historic mosque after promising to cooperate with Assad’s former prime minister to guarantee a peaceful handover of power.
