Assad is in Moscow after fleeing Syria and will be given asylum, Russian state media report

Syrian rebels said they seized Damascus on Sunday and long-time President Bashar al-Assad fled the battle-scarred country as his regime quickly collapsed after a week of military advances against his forces.

Assad and his family have arrived in Russia, granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds" by the Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing a Kremlin source.

Rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist movement that was once an al-Qaeda affiliate, declared in a statement on state-owned TV that Syria was "free from the tyrant" Assad.

President Joe Biden was monitoring the events in Syria, the White House said. President-elect Donald Trump said the U.S. should not get involved.

Assad's ouster brings to a close nearly 25 years of his tight-grip rule, liberate Syria from a family dynasty that has brutally controlled the country for a half century and inject fresh turmoil into a Middle East region already spilling over with warfare and political uncertainty.

Assad's downfall also marks the latest stunning development in one of the deadliest civil wars of the 21st century. The war began in amid the 2011 "Arab Spring" pro-democracy protests that quickly led to the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Assad, aided by his own brutal tactics and Russian support, held on until now.

"I can't believe I'm living this moment," Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone from a celebration in Damascus's Ummayad Square. "We've been waiting a long time for this day. We are starting a new history for Syria."

Fate of Syria's chemical weapons stocks unclear

Assad's regime repeatedly used chemical weapons against the rebels and his own people during the civil war, according to human rights monitors, and U.S. officials. Syria says it has destroyed its stocks, but if the munitions remain it is unclear who will gain control over them.

At a U.N. Security Council briefing Thursday on Syria's claim, U.N. disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said Syria's assertion could not be fully verified. Nakamitusu cited 19 "unresolved issues" in the country’s declaration.

“I reiterate that this is extremely worrying” Nakamitsu said.

Nidal Shikhani, director general of the Chemical Violations Documentation Center of Syria, reported that his organization has recorded 262 chemical weapons uses by Syrian forces that killed 3,423 and injured around 14,000 civilians. 

“Chemical weapons have turned the lives of Syrians into hell,” Shikhani said.

US to maintain presence in eastern Syria

U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett said Biden was "closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners."

Daniel Shapiro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said Sunday that the United States will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State (ISIS), which had gained a foothold in Syria before essentially being driven out by U.S. and coalition forces in 2019.

Shapiro said the U.S. plans to maintain its presence in eastern Syria, and he called on all parties to protect civilians, particularly minorities, and to respect international norms.

“We remain focused on ensuring that ISIS cannot regroup and pose a threat again, either regionally or globally,” Shapiro said.

What's happening in Syria? What to know about the complex, long-simmering civil warSyrian prime minister offers olive branch to rebels

Unverified footage published on social media appeared to show residents of Damascus and other cities pouring onto the streets, dancing and chanting "Assad is gone." Rebels said they would swiftly free political prisoners.

Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali said he wants Syria to be a "normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world." He said he won't flee, wants to peacefully transfer power and is willing to work with any new leadership chosen by the people.

Trump says US should stay out of Syrian chaos

Trump said in a post on X and his own social media platform that the U.S. should have nothing to do with the war in Syria.

"THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT," he wrote. "LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED." Trump later followed that post up by saying Assad had fled Syria because Russia was no longer willing to protect him. Russia, he said "lost all interest because of (its war in) Ukraine."

"Assad is gone," he wrote.

What's happening in Syria?

Hours earlier, rebels announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting.

The fall of Homs came after a new Syrian rebel offensive that started about 10 days ago. It gave insurgents control over Syria's strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from a coastal region that's key to the power of Assad's Alawite sect. The Alawites are a Muslim minority group who have ruled Syria for decades.

Sights on Damascus: Syrian rebels claim key city of Homs

Homs is also where Assad's Russian allies, who enabled him to stay in power during a 13-year-old civil war that has killed an estimated 300,000 civilians, have a naval base and air base. Russia provided Assad's government with vital air cover. Assad was also propped up by Iranian-backed militants including Hezbollah fighters.

However, analysts say that Assad was effectively left to fend for himself because Russia was distracted by its war in Ukraine and Lebanon-based Hezbollah has been under intense pressure from an Oct. 7-related conflict with Israel.

What do we know about Bashar al-Assad?

Assad inherited Syria's leadership from his father Hafez, a powerful military dictator who leaned heavily on the nation's feared security services to crush dissent and suppress all challenges to his rule.

When the younger, western-educated Assad, who studied to be a dentist, took over from his father in 2000 there were hopes Syria might chart a new reformist course for its citizens and ties with the international community.

Those hopes faded fast.

What began as a series of hopeful pro-democracy protests in Syria in 2011 ballooned into a devastating and intractable conflict that contributed to one of the most severe refugee crises since World War II.

Syria's war has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, displaced millions and helped spur the rise – then entrenchment, then toppling – of the Islamic State terrorist group.

Reporter's notebook: walking with Syria's refugees

According to the United Nations, humanitarian groups and Syria watchdogs, Assad's violence has taken many forms: imposing starvation sieges on rebel-held areas; repeatedly bombing, with Russian assistance, hospitals and civilian infrastructure; arresting and torturing thousands of activists, bloggers and civilians, then holding them at secret prisons deep underground, where they languish without trial.

He has also allegedly used chlorine bombs and sarin gas – chemical weapons – against opposition fighters, killing children and civilians.

Putin, Ukraine, long-range missiles: Why there's talk about WWIII

Assad's downfall: What happens next in Syria?

Assad's apparent toppling raises hard-to-answer questions about what comes next for Syria. It's possible Assad could surface in Russia. Moscow has been known to give shelter to exiled authoritarians and dictators. The two countries have a bond shaped by their opposition to the West during the Cold War and nurtured by Moscow's more recent attempt to have a more assertive foreign policy on the world stage.

Geir Pederson, the United Nation's special envoy to Syria, called it a "watershed moment."

"To those displaced, this moment renews the vision of returning to homes once lost," he said in a statement. "To families separated by war, the beginnings of reunions bring hope. To those unjustly detained, and the families of the detained and the missing, the opening of prison doors reminds us of justice’s eventual reach."

American Austin Tice missing in Syria since 2012

The collapse of Assad's regime could also bring news for one American family.

Austin Tice is an American journalist who's been missing in Syria for more than a decade. His mother Debra said last week said that she was confident her son was alive. She cited information she said came from a "significant source," without elaborating. Her son is a former U.S. Marine who was working as a freelance journalist in Syria ahead of his final year at Georgetown Law School when he vanished in 2012.

Tice, now 43, has not been heard from since. A video released a month after he disappeared shows him blindfolded and trembling as he's led up a hillside by armed men. “Oh, Jesus," Tice says in the video. “Oh, Jesus," he repeats.

Debra Tice did not immediately respond to a comment request Sunday.

Mohammed Albasha, founder of Basha Report, a Virginia-based consultancy specializing in Middle East affairs, said the critical question for Syria is how effectively the rebels can establish control and manage the transition of power.

"Will Syria follow the path of Libya, descending into prolonged chaos? While many questions linger about the nation's future, one thing seems certain: today likely marks the end of the Assad regime."

Contributing: Reuters"I am in my home, I did not leave it because I belong to this country," he said.