Syria’s ousted President Bashar al Assad has arrived in Moscow, Russian state media has confirmed.
Mr Assad and members of his family arrived in the city on Sunday, a Kremlin source told the TASS news agency.
The source said: “Assad and his family members have arrived in Moscow. Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them asylum.”
Read more: Latest updates from Syria
Mr Assad left the Syrian capital of Damascus after his government fell following a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country – bringing his 24-year rule to an end.
His whereabouts, as well as those of his wife Asma and their two children, were initially unknown.
As Mr Assad fled, footage on social media showed families gleefully ransacking presidential palaces in Damascus, with some taking selfies in the grand settings, as thousands celebrated in the streets.
A Syrian opposition fighter sits inside an office at the Presidential Palace. Pic: AP
People also entered a building near the Damascus palaces, which housed luxury cars thought to belong to the former president.
In videos shared online, people could be seen driving in around inside a garage, past rows of red sports cars and huge 4x4s.
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People enter Syrian presidential palace
Thousands of Syrians, in cars and on foot, also gathered in a main square in the Damascus chanting for freedom.
In the key city of Homs – which rebel fighters seized after just a day of fighting – thousands more filled the streets after the army withdrew, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free”, and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al Assad”.
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People ride Assad statue through streets
The country’s international airport in Damascus was abandoned, and rebels said they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital, where human rights groups say thousands of Syrians have been tortured and killed by the Assad regime.
A video circulating online purported to show rebels breaking open cells and freeing dozens of female prisoners, who looked shocked and confused. At least one small child could be seen among them.
The Syrian regime had faced a battle on three fronts – Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) from the north, the Southern Front, and a Kurdish group in the east.
File pic: AP
A man walks past a broken portrait of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the ransacked residence. Pic: AP
Syrian rebels, made up of the various opposition groups, said they were working to transition power to a new governing body with full executive powers.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” the coalition said in a statement, describing events as a new birth for “great Syria”.
Read more:
How the rebel assault unfolded
Who are the Syrian rebels – and what are their plans?
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al Jolani, who led the insurgency, declared “the future is ours” in a statement read out on Syrian state TV.
He said there was “no room for turning back” and his group was “determined” to continue on the path it started in 2011.
Addressing a crowd inside the sprawling Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, he later described the fall of Assad as a “victory to the Islamic nation”.
Abu Mohammad al Jolani speaking at the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
Russia – which, alongside Iran, helped prop up the Assad regime – has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Syria, a Kremlin official posted on Telegram.
The fall of Mr Assad’s regime marks a turning point for Syria after 13 years of civil conflict.
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