Bashar al-Assad given asylum in Moscow, Russian media say
Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum "out of humanitarian considerations", Russian news agencies are quoting a Kremlin source as saying. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx89reeevgo
Bashar al-Assad and family given asylum in Moscow, Russian media say
The article discusses the sudden departure of Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria, and his family to Moscow, Russia. The move comes after rebel forces seized control of Damascus, leading to the collapse of Assad's government. Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, has been involved in the Syrian civil war for nine years, supporting Assad's forces.
Reuters
Bashar al-Assad's last public appearance as president was last Sunday, when he met Iran's foreign minister in Damascus
Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum "out of humanitarian considerations", Russian news agencies are quoting a Kremlin source as saying.
Russian state TV also reported the news, which put an end to speculation about the whereabouts of Syria's former president after rebel forces seized control of Damascus.
Earlier, the Russian foreign ministry had announced that Assad "decided to resign the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power".
Russia, which has two key military bases in Syria, is a staunch ally of Assad and had intervened in Syria's 13-year civil war in an effort to keep him in power.
But it was unable to stop the collapse of his government in the face of a lightning rebel offensive that took advantage of his other key allies, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, being distracted by other conflicts.
Assad has not been pictured since he met the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus a week ago. That day, he vowed to "crush" the rebels seizing territory with dizzying speed.
Early on Sunday morning, after their fighters entered the city without resistance, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies declared that "the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled".
With no official confirmation from the Syrian presidency, military or state media, rumours swirled about Assad's whereabouts.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, reported that a plane believed to be carrying Assad "left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left" the facility. Rami Abdul Rahman said he had information that the plane was meant to take off at 22:00 (20:00 GMT) on Saturday.
People also followed flights in and out of Damascus to work out when Assad might have left and where he might have gone.
Reuters news agency cited two unnamed senior Syrian army officers as saying that Assad had boarded a Syrian Air plane at Damascus airport early on Sunday.
It noted that a Syrian Air Ilyushin Il-76T cargo plane took off from the airport at 03:59 local time (01:59 GMT) with an undisclosed destination.
According to data from Flightradar24, the plane initially flew towards the Mediterranean coast, which is a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect and is also home to two key Russian military bases - Hmeimim airbase and the naval base in Tartous.
But after flying over Homs, the plane made a U-turn and started flying eastwards again while also losing altitude. The plane's signal was lost at around 04:39 (02:39 GMT), when it was about 13km (8 miles) west of Homs and flying at an altitude of only 1,625ft (495m).
It was not clear what happened to the plan, but Flightradar24 said the aircraft "was old with an older transponder generation, so some data might be bad or missing", that it was "flying in an area of GPS jamming, so some data might be bad", and that the aircraft tracker was not aware of any airports in the area where the signal was lost. There were also no reports of any plane crashes.
Data from Flightradar24 also showed that a Russian military plane took off on Sunday from Latakia's international airport, next to Hmeimim, and flew to Moscow. Once again, it was not known who was on board.
As well as reporting the arrival of Assad in Moscow, Russian state TV said Russian officials were in contact with representatives of "the Syrian armed opposition" and that they had guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions.
Russia insisted its air strikes only targeted "terrorists" during its nine-year air campaign in support of Assad, but they regularly killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure.
The SOHR said in September that more than 21,000 people, including 8,700 civilians, had been killed in Russian military operations.
### "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence", George Washington. ###
"L'avion a disparu du radar, le transpondeur a peut-être été désactivé, mais je pense que la plus grande probabilité est que l'avion ait été abattu…", a déclaré une source syrienne auprès de Reuters sans donner plus de détails.
"Assad a quitté la Syrie via l'aéroport international de Damas avant que les membres des forces armées et de sécurité ne quittent le site", a indiqué à l'AFP le directeur de l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'homme (OSDH), Rami Abdel Rahmane.
D'après les informations communiquées par Al Jazeera, dès l'instant où les rebelles ont mis la main sur l'aéroport de Damas, les radars de contrôle aérien ont aperçu un seul avion circulant dans l'espace aérien syrien. Il s'agit du vol Syrian Air 9218, dernier appareil qui a quitté Damas et dont le signal a disparu alors qu'il survolait Homs, une ville de Syrie.
La trajectoire de l'avion montre qu'il a d'abord volé vers l'est avant de bifurquer vers le nord, annonce l'agence Reuters précisant ne pas savoir actuellement qui se trouvait à bord.
Deux sources syriennes ont déclaré qu'il y avait une très forte probabilité que Bachar al-Assad ait été tué dans un accident d'avion, car la raison pour laquelle l'avion a fait un demi-tour surprise et a disparu de la carte, selon les données du site web Flightradar, reste un mystère.
"Il a disparu du radar, le transpondeur a peut-être été désactivé, mais je pense que la plus grande probabilité est que l'avion ait été abattu…", a déclaré une source syrienne auprès de Reuters sans donner plus de détails.
Syrian government falls in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.
Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free.
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrian opposition fighters remove a government Syrian flag from an official building in Salamiyah, east of Hama, Syria Syria, Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
The man who read the statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, an opposition group, called on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of "the free Syrian state."
The statement emerged hours after the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus following the remarkably swift advance across the country.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to "extend its hand" to the opposition and turn its functions over to a transitional government.
"I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country," Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
RELATED COVERAGE
He did not address reports that Assad had fled.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Associated Press that Assad took a flight Sunday from Damascus.
State television in Iran, Assad's main backer in the years of war in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. It cited Qatar's Al Jazeera news network for the information and did not elaborate.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government.
A giant banner of Syrian President Bashar Assad hangs on the facade of a building, as pedestrian walk through an the empty streets of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
An image of Syrian President Bashar Assad, riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syrian opposition fighters drive past a burning government armored vehicle south of Hama, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A boy steps over pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his late father, Hafez Assad, right, Salamiyah, east of Hama, Syria, Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
As daylight broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to pray in the city's mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting "God is great." People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked car horns. In some areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.
Soldiers and police officers left their posts and fled, and looters broke into the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.
"My feelings are indescribable," said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. "After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can't believe it."
Daher said his father was killed by security forces and his brother was in detention, his fate unknown. Assad "is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog," he said."
"Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family," said Ghazal al-Sharif, another reveler in central Damascus. "It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God, we saw it."
The police headquarters in the capital appeared to be abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside. An Associated Press journalist shot footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms were discarded on the ground under a poster of Assad's face. Footage broadcast on opposition-linked media showed a tank in one of the capital's central squares.
It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.
The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that the Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights halted.
Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
The insurgents also announced they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and "liberated" their prisoners there.
The night before, opposition forces took the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, as government forces abandoned it. The city stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria's coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader's base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.
The rebels had already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.
The rebels' moves into Damascus came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.
The advances in the past week were by far the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.
The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an "orderly political transition." Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels "sorry for the Syrian people."
In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Lebanese border officials closed the main Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many stuck waiting.
Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price.
The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution.
A man passes on a pedestrian bridge in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Assad's status
Syria's state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he was performing his duties in Damascus.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said Sunday he does not know where Assad or the defense minister are. He told Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya early Sunday that they lost communication Saturday night.
He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.
Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation of a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015 and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections.
Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria.
In a statement, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis "that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians."
The insurgents' march
A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the "final stage" of their offensive by encircling Damascus.
A man rides his motorcycle past a burning government armoured vehicle south of Hama, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syrian opposition fighters drive past a damaged government vehicle south of Hama, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a "salvation government" to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group's image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance.
The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, and the central city of Hama, the country's fourth-largest city.
The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011.
Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country's underlying problems. "Assad didn't seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people," he said.
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Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Abdulrahman Shaheen and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar; and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
### "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence", George Washington. ###
Australian Senate Passes 'World First' Law Banning Under 16 Kids From Social Media
The law will come into force in 12 months.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Late into the night on Nov. 28, the Australian Senate passed a "world first" law that bans under 16-year-old children from accessing social media.
The new law, once in effect, means young Australians will be barred from accessing platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and X—age verification technology will be implemented by the Big Tech firms to ensure compliance.
Certain social media programs will be allowed, including YouTube and educational apps.
The centre-left Labor government achieved passage of the Bill with support from the centre-right Liberal-National Coalition amid a blitz of Bills on the last sitting day of Parliament in 2024.
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma speaking in the Senate on Nov. 28, argued that parents need assistance managing social media for children.
"I think parents need help with this, and this is why I think there is a case for government intervention," he said.
"Partly because parents have to grapple with the ubiquity of phones and electronic devices, and the crude measure that some suggest—which is take away your kid's phone, or give them a non-smartphone without adding any apps—I don't think is particularly realistic," Sharma said.
"I think in today's era we expect our children to be able to be contacted and be contactable, and this is especially true in situations in many households today where both parents are working, and they are often not home when the children might be home or coming home from school."
Sharma added he did not discount that there were some benefits to children using social media, providing a way for them to stay in touch and stay connected.
"We all saw this during the COVID pandemic, when our children weren't going to school and they stayed in touch through messaging platforms, through social media platforms, and it allows them to build and maintain a social circle," he said.
"I also appreciate that the people who are isolated geographically or socially or otherwise, it provides them a way to build a community which might not be available to them in the real world.
Greens Oppose
Greens Senator David Shoebridge, however, described the bill as "deeply flawed" and was a proposal that appeared to come from people who have "never been on the internet."
"It's a bill to appease [media mogul] Rupert Murdoch," he claimed.
Shoebridge also described the short Senate inquiry into the legislation as a "sham" and said the evidence against a social media ban was "overwhelming."
Labor Minister Jenny McAllister noted the law would not come into force for a year, emphasising that keeping "Australians safe online" was a top priority of the government.
"Through extensive consultation and with the input of states and territories, the government is agreeing that until a child turns 16, the social media environment as it stands is not age-appropriate for them," the speech said (pdf).
"Critically, this legislation will allow for a twelve-month implementation period—to ensure this novel and world-leading reform can take effect with the care and consideration Australian's rightly expect."
What Social Media Companies Will Be Impacted?
The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, which will come into force within a year, will require social media platforms to take "reasonable steps" to stop Australian children from holding an account.
"The penalty amounts are intentionally large, which reflects the significance of the harms the Bill is intended to safeguard against," the government said in its explanatory memorandum (pdf).
"It will also strongly signal the expectation that age-restricted social media platforms treat the minimum age obligation seriously."
Companies that do not comply face fines of up to $49.5 million (US$32 million).
Social media platforms will also need to roll out technology to verify the minimum age of users.
"The Bill does not dictate how platforms must comply with the minimum age obligation," the explanatory memorandum states.
"However, it is expected that at a minimum, the obligation will require platforms to implement some form of age assurance as a means of identifying whether a prospective or existing account holder is an Australian child under the age of 16 years."
X Corporation's Concerns With Legislation
X Corporation raised concerns about the legality of the legislation and failure to incentivise parents, in a submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee.
"We have serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the Bill, including its compatibility with other regulations and laws, including international human rights treaties to which Australia is a signatory, as further detailed below," X said in a submission (pdf).
"By design, the Bill ignores the realities of the wider technology ecosystem and goes as far as to exclude entire industries and parts of society, including parents and caregivers, all of whom should be motivated and supported to work together to keep young Australians safe online."
Billionaire Elon Musk also weighed into the debate on the social media ban personally on Nov. 21, responding to a post from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touting the ban.
"Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians," Musk posted to X, in reference to the possible rollout of a national ID or age verification technology.
Catholic School Parents in Favour
The Senate Committee also heard views in favour of the bill, with the New South Wales government presenting a survey of 21,000 people that showed 87 percent of people supported a minimum age standard for social media.
Catholic school parents in Western Australia also argued that social media could impact children's behaviour.
"Parents are worried that children and young people are becoming desensitised to some of the content that they are seeing, and that it is leading to a distorted understanding of some serious topics," the advocacy group told the inquiry.
### "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence", George Washington. ###
"Ce dont j’ai le plus peur, c’est des gens qui croient que, du jour au lendemain, on peut prendre une société, lui tordre le cou et en faire une autre."
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”
“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile."
Reuters
