New Delhi: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s family has reportedly fled to Russian amid the lightning offensive by rebel forces, who have taken control of more cities across the country’s northwest.
His British-born wife left the strife-torn country with their three children last week while his brothers-in-law have travelled to the United Arab Emirates, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Rebel forces in southern Syria have reportedly captured most of the Deraa region, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against Assad bordering Jordan, following a deal for the army to withdraw and for military officials to be given safe passage to the capital, Damascus, the news agency Reuters reported, quoting rebel sources.
It is the fourth city to fall into the hands of the militant insurgents. “Local factions have taken control of more areas in Daraa province, including Daraa city… they now control more than 90 percent of the province, as regime forces successively pulled out,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said late Friday.
The rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have also seized Aleppo, Hama and Deir Ezzor since launching the surprise offensive on November 27.
While Syrian military and its Russian allies are fighting back, Assad’s other key ally, Iran, has begun to evacuate its military commanders and personnel, officials quoted in the New York Times said.
While whereabouts of the Syrian president remained unclear, pro-Assad TV news channel on Friday said that he was in Iran, before withdrawing the report.
Meanwhile, a source close to Kremlin told Bloomberg News that Russia has no plans to rescue Assad since President Vladimir Putin is apparently not happy to see his regime troops fleeing their positions.
Reports further suggest that Egyptian and Jordanian officials want Assad to leave the country and form a government-in-exile.
When Assad was in serious trouble 10 years ago at the hight of civil war in Syria, Russia and Iran along with Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia had helped him recapture Aleppo as the rebels were inching closer to the capital Damascus.
