- The Russian foreign ministry says Bashar al Assad stepped down and left the country after negotiations with “a number of participants in the armed conflict.”
The Russian foreign ministry said it is following the events in Syria with “extreme concern”.
It said Syrian President Bashar al Assad has stepped down and left the country after negotiations with “a number of participants in the armed conflict”.
Mr Assad gave “instructions to transfer power peacefully”, the foreign ministry said.
Russia said it did not participate in negotiations around this.
Moscow has been a strong ally of Mr Assad’s regime, stepping in to keep him in power in 2015.
It’s unclear how Russia will be involved moving forward, given its support of the Assad regime, but the foreign ministry said it is “in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition”.
It added that it is taking measures to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in Syria, saying its military bases in the country are on high alert.
This is just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the ousting of the Assad regime as an “historic day”.
President Bashar al Assad had been backed and propped up by Iran, a major foe of Israel.
However Iran has been weakened in recent months following blows against its proxies in the Middle East, including Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
On a visit to the area near the border with Syria, Mr Netanyahu said he had ordered Israeli forces to seize areas in the buffer zone to ensure Israel’s security.
“We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” he said.
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967 and the area has since been established as a buffer zone.
