Moscow confirms Assad left his post asking for peaceful power transfer

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that after talks with a number of participants in the Syrian conflict, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad left his post and the country, instructing him to peacefully hand over power.

Russia did not take part in these negotiations, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

Due to the situation, Russian military bases in Syria have been put on high alert. However, the ministry noted that at the moment there is no serious security threat to Russian military bases in Syria.

Russia is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition, the Foreign Ministry said.

To recall, early on December 8, the Syrian army command informed officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule ended, marking a seismic moment for the Middle East.

Syrian rebels declared Damascus "now free of Assad," and sources reported plans to broadcast their first statement to the nation via state television. Two senior army officers confirmed to Reuters that Assad fled Damascus for an undisclosed destination earlier in the day, leaving the capital under rebel control.

An IL-76 aeroplane of the Syrian airline Syrian Air, which was supposedly carrying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, disappeared from radar after less than an hour of flight, according to the flight tracker Flightradar24.

The flight tracker data showed that a Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels.

By Khagan Isayev