Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies. The announcement comes only hours after he reportedly fled the country as rebels entered Damascus.”Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,” Russian news agencies TASS and Ria Novosti reported. “Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” a source told the Russian state media.A Western official said they believed that was likely the case and had no reason to doubt Moscow’s claim, as per AFP. Meanwhile, Iran’s top diplomat said that the ousted Syrian president had “never asked” for Tehran’s aid against the rebels. Abbas Araghchi said it was “surprising” the Syrian army couldn’t counter the rebel attack. Iran had backed the Syrian leader with military advisers during his country’s years-long civil war. n18oc_world n18oc_crux0:00 INTRODUCTION1:48 REBELS ‘GUARANTEE SECURITY’ OF RUSSIAN ARMY BASES 4:20 “ASSAD HANDED SYRIA OVER TO IRANIAN AMBITIONS”6:52 “WE WERE NEVER ASKED FOR HELP”