The president of Transition of Syria, Ahmed al Sharahas confirmed that Russia has rejected the request for extradition of the dictator Bashar Al-Assad, that took refuge in Russian territory after the fall of its regime in early December 2024, after more than two decades of power, although the family dynasty dates back to the 70s of the last century.
This has been confirmed for the first time publicly in an interview for the newspaper The New York Times that has been published this Wednesday. Al Shara has revealed that Kremlin has rejected a proposal to expel Al Assad in exchange for maintaining its military presence in Syria, although Trust to be able to negotiate with Russia.
“We have told all the parties that this military presence must adjust to the legal framework of Syria,” he told Shara, highlighting that any foreign deployment within the territory cannot question independence, the stability of the country, nor suppose a threat to other nations.
Waiting to know what role Russia will finally play in this Syria, Al Shara has been open to negotiation due to the narrow past that both countries maintained during Al-Assad’s mandate, as it shows that the military arsenal available to the country It has been supplied almost exclusively by Moscow.
“Until now We have not had offers from other nations to replace Syrian weapons (…) Syria’s weapons are exclusively Russian and Syria has depended on numerous food and energy agreements for many years, ”he said.
On the other hand, he has taken the opportunity to ask that USA, As the European Union has done, lift or recess the sanctions imposed on Syria years ago in response “to the crimes committed by the previous regime.”
The fall of Al-Assad was culminated at dawn on December 8, 2024 with the taking of the capital, Damascus, by the rebel forces, headed by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), after a lightning offensive of about a week that caused the collapse of the fragile government.
While their enemies approached Damascus, Al-Assad used a private plane to take cash, value objects and confidential documents that mapped the corporate network behind their wealth.
Yasar Ibrahimthe president’s main economic advisor, organized the rental of the plane to transport the precious assets of Assad, his relatives, his assistants and the presidential palace staff to the United Arab Emirates aboard Four flightsaccording to a story of the operation collected by Reuters From more than a dozen sources.
Ibrahim, who directed the presidency’s economic and financial office, played a decisive role in the creation of a network of entities that Assad used to control Syrian economy sectors, often acting as Facade of the former ruleraccording to the notices of American sanctions, as well as experts in the economy of Syria and a source within the Assad business network.
The Embraer Legacy 600 plane made four consecutive trips to Syria in the 48 hours prior to the fall of the regimeaccording to a review of Reuters of flight tracking records. The plane, with registration C5-Skyis registered in Gambia.
The fourth flight departed on December 8 from the HMEIMIM Military Air Base, Operated by Russianear Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, according to the monitoring records, a satellite image and an old source of intelligence of the Air Force with direct knowledge of the operation. Assad fled to Russia that same day from the same base.
(With EP information)
