Kremlin: Former Syrian Pres. Assad Personally Decided to Resign

Asked at a news briefing whether Moscow played any role in Assad’s relocation to Russia and his resignation from the presidential office, Peskov replied it was Assad’s personal decision to resign from the position of head of state, TASS reported.

On November 27, terrorist groups launched a large-scale offensive on the positions of Syrian government forces in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. By the evening of December 7, President Bashar Assad’s armed oppositions had seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs.

On December 8, they entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, while the army withdrew from the city. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement, Syrian President Bashar Assad stepped down and left the country, issuing instructions to ensure a peaceful transition of power. A Kremlin source said later that Assad and his family members had arrived in Moscow as Russia had provided them with asylum based on humanitarian grounds.