Refuting Trump Prediction, Putin Grants Russian Asylum To Assad

Vladimir Putin and Assad

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Russian state-owned news agency TASS, citing a source in the Kremlin, confirmed overthrown Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow “after being granted asylum in Russia,” CNN’s Jim Scuitto reports.

Syrian rebel forces on Sunday advanced into Damascus “unopposed … overthrowing” Assad “and ending nearly six decades of his family's iron-fisted rule,” Reuters reports. "In one of the most consequential turning points in the Middle East for generations, the fall of Assad's government wiped out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world. Moscow gave him and his family asylum."

Russia’s decision to grant Assad asylum comes as Trump, early Sunday morning,” claimed Putin “ was not interested in protecting [Assad] any longer.”

“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever. Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success. Likewise, Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!”

As New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush noted in a tweet, Trump’s take on the Syrian geopolitical crisis “is kinda wow.”

After his slated successor tweeted his analysis in the early Sunday morning hours, President Joe Biden on Sunday heralded his administration’s role in weakening Assad's regime.

“For years the main backers of Assad have been Iran, Hezbollah and Russia,” Biden said. “But over the last week their support collapsed, all three of them, because all three of them are far weaker today than they were than when I took office.”

You can watch that video below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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