Syria's revolutionary flag raised over embassy in Moscow, says media

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Syria's revolutionary flag was raised over the country’s embassy in the Russian capital Moscow, state media said on Monday, a day after the fall of the decades-old Assad regime.

“Today, the (Syrian) embassy opened and operates as usual under a new flag,” a source in the country’s diplomatic mission told Russian state news agency Tass.

The report comes a day after Tass said that the flag of the deposed Baath regime was removed from the embassy building, as well as the diplomatic mission’s nameplate.

The Syrian Embassy in Moscow told Tass that it is awaiting instructions from representatives of the country’s new leadership.

It also confirmed reports that deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow, but denied that the embassy has had any contacts with him.

On Sunday, Tass reported that Assad and his family fled to Moscow where Russia granted them asylum, on the same day the country’s capital Damascus came under the control of anti-regime forces, ending the Assad regime.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that Assad and his family were given asylum by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but did not disclose his whereabouts.

After a period of relative calm, clashes between Assad regime forces and anti-regime groups reignited on Nov. 27 in rural areas west of Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria.

Over 10 days, opposition forces launched a lightning offensive, capturing key cities and then, on Sunday, the capital Damascus. The rapid advance, supported by defecting military units, led to the collapse of the Assad regime after 13 years of civil war.