(Reuters) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DAMASCUS, Dec 9 – Syrians awakened on Monday to a hopeful if uncertain future, after rebels seized the capital Damascus and\u00a0President Bashar al-Assad<\/a>\u00a0fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family’s brutal rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lightning advance<\/a> of a militia alliance spearheaded by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, marked one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East<\/a> in generations. Assad’s fall wiped out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moscow gave asylum to Assad and his family<\/a>, Russian media reported and Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organisations in Vienna, said on his Telegram channel on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International governments welcomed the end of the Assads’ autocratic government, as they sought to take stock of a new-look Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. President Joe Biden said Syria is in a period of risk and uncertainty, and it is the first time in years that neither Russia, Iran nor the Hezbollah militant organisation held an influential role there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HTS is still designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., Turkey and the United Nations, although it has spent years trying to soften<\/a> its image to reassure international governments and minority groups within Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n