Where is Assad? Russia solves the mystery of the Syrian dictator’s escape

CNN
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While many in Syria celebrated the end of Bashar al-Assad’s long rule, rumors about his whereabouts circulated. After a day of intrigue, the mystery was solved when Russian state media announced that he had landed in Moscow.

“Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” a Kremlin source said, according to TASS.

Since the start of the uprising and the rebels’ rapid advance through the country, Assad has kept a low profile.

After meeting with Iran’s foreign minister last weekend, he pledged to fight “terrorist organizations” but otherwise had little comment as rebels seized major cities.

On Saturday, as rebels surrounded Damascus, a source told CNN that Assad was nowhere to be found in the city.

Assad’s presidential guard is also no longer stationed at his usual residence, as would be the case if he were there, the source said, fueling speculation ahead of Sunday’s developments that he may have escaped.

The Syrian presidential office initially denied that Assad had left Damascus or traveled to another country, saying some foreign media were “spreading rumors and false news.”

After the rebels took the capital, they said he had fled and were looking for him. Some of the fighters, along with civilians, began searching his official residences.

Amid these rumors, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement on Sunday saying Assad had “decided to resign from office as president and leave the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.”

The statement added that Russia “did not take part in these negotiations.” It was later announced that Assad had arrived in Moscow.

A source close to the rebels told CNN that the ousted president left Damascus under Russian protection, and another source said he traveled to Latakia in northwestern Syria, where Russia has an air base.

Flight tracking data shows a plane took off from Damascus airport toward the coast just before 2 a.m. local time on Sunday before making a sudden U-turn over the city of Homs and disappearing from the map. CNN cannot confirm whether Assad was on that flight.

Russia was the obvious target – President Vladimir Putin was a long-time ally and supported the Syrian regime with air power and other military aid. Whether Moscow is Assad’s permanent target, it marks an abrupt and ignominious end to more than two decades in power.