Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Russia after being granted asylum by Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported, citing a Kremlin source.
Russia has granted the family asylum on “humanitarian grounds,” the Interfax, TASS, and Ria Novosti news agencies reported on Sunday.
Al-Assad’s whereabouts were unknown after armed opposition fighters captured Damascus in the early hours of Sunday morning, declaring that his government had been toppled. The advance came less than two weeks into the opposition’s lightning offensive.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had said earlier on Sunday that al-Assad had resigned and left Syria.
Crowds ransacked the deposed leader’s opulent home after the opposition forces declared he had fled.

Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets shortly after rebel factions declared “the city of Damascus free.”
Meanwhile, Russian news agencies also reported that Syrian opposition leaders have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions inside Syria.
That is despite Russia having been an active participant in Syria’s war, supporting al-Assad and carrying out repeated bombing raids on opposition areas, resulting in the deaths of civilians. Russian support reversed the tide of the war in 2015 when opposition fighters were threatening Damascus. Instead, al-Assad was able to push the opposition to enclaves in the north of the country, until the rapid rebel advance that began in late November.
The events of Sunday came after 13 years of war, which also put an end to more than half a century of the al-Assad family’s rule.