A Russian delegation, including Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian President’s Special Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev, has arrived in Damascus.
This marks the first visit by Russian officials to Damascus since Bashar al-Assad stepped down as president of Syria and left the country in December last year.
In late November 2024, opposition forces launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. By the evening of December 7, they had taken control of Aleppo, Deraa, Hama, and Homs, and on December 8, they entered Damascus. Assad subsequently resigned as president and fled the country.
On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Salvation Government established by the opposition in Idlib since January 2024, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s transitional cabinet. The transitional period is set to last until March 1, 2025. The de facto leader of Syria is now Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (banned and designated as a terrorist organization in Russia).
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Photo: anjči/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS