AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s whereabouts are unknown, while the army officers say he boarded flight. Meanwhile, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said on Sunday afternoon that President Bashar al-Assad was last contacted yesterday.
According to two senior army officers, Assad boarded a plane in Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, as rebels seized the city and ousted him from power after 24 years as president.
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Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching into a succession of cities as frontlines crumbled.
His whereabouts now – and those of his wife Asma and their two children – remain unknown.
ASSAD’S POSSIBLE FLIGHT
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed if he was on the plane, as it took a surprise U-turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the Flightradar website.
“It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down…,” said one Syrian source without elaborating.
The plane departed Damascus soon after rebels had taken the central city of Homs, cutting the capital off from the coast where Assad’s Russian ally has air and naval bases.
The only trackable flight departing Syria visible after midnight on Flightradar24, a flight tracking site, left Homs for the UAE, but that was hours after rebels had captured the city.
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As the rebel advance gathered steam over the past week, there was speculation that he may seek refuge in Moscow or with his other main ally Iran.
EMBASSY STORMED, TRUMP SPEAKS UP
A news agency reported Syrian rebels storm Iranian embassy in Damascus. Iraq has moved its diplomatic staff deployed in Syria to Lebanon.
Meanwhile, United States President-elect Donald Trump has shared a statement on social media regarding the situation in Syria. He said that Bashar al-Assad has left his country. “Russia is no longer interested in protecting Bashar al-Assad,” Trump said.