Situation in Syria: Assad could have died in a plane crash, his plane disappeared without a trace – Reuters

Bashar al-Assad is currently being actively sought. It was expected that he would flee to Moscow.

Syrian rebels have declared Damascus “liberated.” Bashar Assad’s regime has fallen, and the president is being actively sought after he suddenly fled the capital.

According to CNN, citing informed sources, an active search for Assad is underway. The rebels are interrogating Syrian military and intelligence officers who may have known about his movements.

The Syrian leader has not been seen or heard from publicly since rebels entered the capital early Sunday morning.

Journalist Barak Ravid said Assad left Damascus around midnight last night and flew to a Russian base in Syria, intending to continue his journey to Moscow. It is unclear whether he has left Syria.

A US official told the journalist that the Americans had tracked Assad leaving Damascus last night. It was expected that he was planning to fly to Moscow.

Updated at 10:46. According to Reuters, citing two sources in Syria, there is a “very high probability that Assad could have died in the plane crash.” It remains a mystery why the plane made a sudden U-turn and disappeared from radar.

“It disappeared from radar, maybe the transponder was turned off, but I think the more likely possibility is that the plane was shot down…”, said one Syrian source.

The fighters entered the presidential palace. The publication notes that the rebels fired into the air, celebrating the liberation of Damascus. In a televised statement, the rebels declared the Syrian capital Damascus “liberated.”

“Damascus has been liberated, the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown, and the oppressed prisoners in the regime’s prisons have been freed,” the spokesman said, reading a statement surrounded by about a dozen other rebels.

“Long live a free Syria for all Syrians,” he added.

Syrian rebels previously claimed to have taken control of the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of Damascus, according to a statement on Sunday. It is not known how many other prisons are in the capital.

Amnesty International called the prison a “human torture chamber” in a 2017 report after widely documenting mass hangings there.

(C)UNIAN 2024