MOSCOW/DAMASCUS/UNITED NATIONS - Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, Russia's state-run RIA news agency reported Sunday, citing a source from the Kremlin.
The source said that Russia had granted asylum to them out of humanitarian considerations.
Russia supports a political solution to the Syrian crisis and regards it necessary to resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, said the report.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday issued a statement saying Assad had "decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully."
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In Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) head Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani, spearheading the lightning assault, said Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jallali, appointed prime minister by al-Assad in September, would temporarily oversee public institutions.
Al-Jolani instructed opposition forces in Damascus to refrain from approaching public institutions and banned celebratory gunfire.
Al-Jallali, the prime minister, also called on Syrians to protect public facilities, saying they belonged to all citizens. "We extend our hands to every Syrian citizen committed to safeguarding the country's resources," Al-Jallali said in a televised address. "Syria belongs to all Syrians, and I urge everyone to think rationally about the nation's best interests."
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However, crowds of people stormed the house of Assad and two presidential palaces amid recorded cases of looting. Abandoned arms left by Syrian soldiers were taken by young men. The Iranian embassy in Damascus was also stormed by armed militants.
The military command of the opposition imposed a curfew starting from afternoon till the next day while issuing warnings and threatening jail penalties against looters and those firing guns in the air.
In midst of the upheaval, Israel mounted a series of unprecedented airstrikes, hitting former Syrian security and military sites in Damascus and Quneitra repeatedly within a single day, according to local reports.
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Some of these strikes targeted abandoned army positions and facilities previously associated with the now-defunct Fourth Division near Damascus. Israeli ground forces also reportedly pushed into parts of Jabal al-Sheikh, taking over old surveillance posts without opposition.
Meanwhile, the Syrian National Coalition, an alliance of opposition groups formed in exile following the 2011 uprising against Assad, vowed Sunday to continue working towards the transfer of authority to a transitional governing body with full executive powers, with the goal of ushering in a free, democratic, and pluralistic Syria.
Syria's future
Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that the future of Syria is a matter for the Syrians to determine and that there is much work to be done to ensure an orderly political transition to renewed institutions.
The UN chief reiterated his call "for calm and avoiding violence at this sensitive time, while protecting the rights of all Syrians, without distinction."
The inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected in all cases in accordance with international law, he said.
"We will need the support of the international community to ensure that any political transition is inclusive and comprehensive and that it meets the legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria, in all their diversity. Syria's sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity must be restored," said Guterres.
The United Nations will honor the memory of those who have borne the brunt of this conflict, he said. "We remain committed to helping Syrians build a country where reconciliation, justice, freedom, and prosperity are shared realities for all. This is the path to sustainable peace in Syria."
