End of a “dictatorial regime”, “opportunity for the Syrians”, calls to avoid “chaos”… The international community has its eyes riveted, this Monday, December 9, on Syria after the fall of Bashar el-Assad, in power for twenty-four years. According to UN chief Antonio Guterres: “After 14 years of brutal war and the fall of the dictatorial regime, the Syrian people can now seize a historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future.” It is with this hope in mind that the UN Security Council will meet urgently on Monday, December 9, for closed-door discussions on Syria.
Information to remember
⇒ Emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday (diplomatic sources)
⇒ For Joe Biden, Bashar al-Assad will have to “be held accountable”
⇒ 26 dead during an attack by pro-Turkish groups against an area controlled by the Kurds (NGO)
The UN Security Council meets urgently
The UN Security Council will meet urgently on Monday, December 9, for closed-door discussions on Syria, after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, several diplomatic sources told AFP on Sunday. The consultations, which will take place from 3 p.m. (9 p.m. Paris time), were requested earlier on Sunday by Russia.
For Joe Biden, Bashar al-Assad will have to “be held accountable”
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Bashar al-Assad, ousted from power in Syria by a lightning offensive by rebel groups and who fled the country, should “be held accountable” for the “hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians ” who were “mistreated, tortured, and killed”.
During a speech at the White House, the American president assured that the United States was “not sure” of the whereabouts of the Syrian president. “But it is said that he is in Moscow,” he added, as Russian news agencies reported that he was in the Russian capital with his family. According to Joe Biden, the fall of Bashar al-Assad represents a “historic opportunity” for Syrians to “build a better future”, even if this situation creates “risks” and “uncertainty”. Joe Biden also warned on Sunday that “some of the rebel groups” who participated in the blitzkrieg had a “history of terrorism and human rights violations.”
Syria: Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, according to Russian agencies
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, Russian news agencies revealed Sunday evening, citing a source in the Kremlin, after the fall of the Syrian authorities caused by a lightning offensive by rebel groups led by radical Islamists . “Assad and his family members arrived in Moscow. Russia, based on humanitarian considerations, granted them asylum,” the source told state news agencies TASS and Ria Novosti. This source also indicated that Russia is already in contact with the Syrian rebels and that their leaders have “guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of Syria.”
26 dead during an attack by pro-Turkish groups against an area controlled by the Kurds (NGO)
At least 26 fighters were killed on Sunday as Turkish-backed Syrian forces launched an offensive in the Manbij region of northern Syria, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave, an NGO said . Pro-Turkish fighters had already retaken the Kurdish enclave of Tal Rifaat last week, after rebels led by Islamists launched a lightning offensive which led to the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
“Pro-Turkish factions… have taken large areas of the town of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported ( OSDH).
Fall of Assad: Israel welcomes the fall of a “central link” of the “axis of evil”
Israel welcomed Sunday, with the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the fall of a “central link” of the “axis of evil” led by Iran, its sworn enemy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw it as “a direct consequence” of the blows dealt by his country to Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah. “This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East,” he assured from the Syrian Golan occupied and annexed by Israel.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also welcomed on Sunday the fall of the “barbaric regime” of Bashar al-Assad and called for the “restoration of peace and stability”. For his part, the leader of the Lebanese Forces, the main Christian party of country, estimated on Sunday that the fall of the Syrian leader signaled the “end of the game” for Hezbollah, which he called to lay down its arms.