Top official: Former Syrian regime created problems for Azerbaijan

The former Syrian regime created problems for Azerbaijan in several international organizations, said Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani presidential aide.

Hajiyev said Azerbaijan hopes for the restoration of stability in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The official also announced that the president of Azerbaijan and Türkiye held a telephone conversation focused on the Syrian issue.

During the phone talk, congratulations were conveyed to the Syrian people.

Let’s recall that on November 27, clashes broke out between Assad regime forces and anti-regime armed groups in rural areas west of Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria.

On November 30, anti-regime groups took control of most of the center of Aleppo from regime forces, and on the same day, they gained control over the entire Idlib province. On December 5, after fierce clashes, the groups took the city center of Hama from regime forces.

Anti-regime groups captured some settlements in the strategically important province of Homs, a gateway to the capital Damascus, and started to advance there.

On December 6, armed opposition groups launched an operation in the Daraa province on Syria's border with Jordan and after clashes, recaptured the city center from the regime forces.

On December 7, the entire province of Suwayda in southern Syria also came under the control of opposition groups. On the same day, local opposition groups in Quneitra also took control of the provincial centre. In the province of Homs, which leads to the capital, anti-regime forces took control of the provincial centre.

Groups advancing against Assad regime forces entered the southern suburbs of Damascus later on December 7. Regime forces also withdrew from the Defense and Interior ministries and the international airport in Damascus.

On December 8 morning, as anti-regime armed groups started to dominate the capital, the Assad regime quickly lost all control of Damascus. Consequently, on the same day, Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia. According to Russian state media, Assad was granted asylum by Russia on humanitarian grounds in Moscow. The decision to grant asylum to Assad and his family was made personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

By Khagan Isayev