Media: Syrian president’s efforts to seek asylum rejected

Member of the political committee of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Anas Al-Abdah has said that there is no clarity regarding the whereabouts of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Bashar al-Assad has reached out to several countries requesting asylum, but all of his requests have been denied,” he told TASS, Caliber.Az reports.

"There is still no concrete news about Assad's whereabouts. We know that he requested permission to enter several countries, including Russia, but his requests were denied. It's possible that he has headed to one of the African countries. Meanwhile, the Syrian people want him to be tried by a Syrian court," he noted.

According to Bild, a private Embraer Legacy 600 jet departed from Damascus on December 7 evening and landed in Abu Dhabi approximately two and a half hours later. 

Observers believe that Assad may have been aboard this plane. In the past few days, the plane has been flying between Damascus and the United Arab Emirates, transporting members of Assad's cabinet and his relatives to a safe location. On December 7, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stated that armed individuals had infiltrated the buffer zone along the ceasefire line from the Syrian side. 

Following the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the capture of Damascus by Islamist rebels on December 8, the IDF decided to tighten restrictions on several cities near the Syrian border. In particular, checkpoints will be set up around the Golan Heights. On the same day, Israel launched airstrikes on targets in the Aleppo province. Israeli politicians are urging the government to take measures to prevent jihadists’ presence along the border.

By Naila Huseynova