Syrian rebels seized Damascus on Sunday, and long-time President Bashar Assad fled the battle-scarred country amid the stunning collapse of his regime after 13 years of war.
Assad and his family arrived in Russia, granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds," 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.
The rebel coalition said it was working to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with executive powers to rule the ancient nation of more than 23 million people.
