Al Arabiya: The leader of Syria demanded that Russia extradite Bashar al-Assad

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa demanded that President Vladimir Putin extradite a person in Russian ex-head of Syria Bashar al-Assad Damascus for trial, said sources of the television company Al Arabiya. The channel reported this on the social network X. No other details are provided.

On March 20, it became known that Putin sent a message to al-Sharaa, in which he supported efforts to stabilize the situation in Syria as soon as possible amid clashes between fighters-supporters of the new authorities and Alawites who supported Assad.

"Russia's unwavering readiness to develop practical cooperation with the Syrian leadership on the entire range of issues on the bilateral agenda in order to strengthen traditionally friendly Russian-Syrian relations was confirmed," the Kremlin said in a statement about the message.

The situation in Syria escalated in early March, clashes between Alawites and supporters of the new authorities affected the provinces of Latakia, Tartus, Hama and Homs. More than a thousand deaths were reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that at the Russian Khmeimim airbase in Latakia, the military sheltered 8-9 thousand Syrians during the pogroms.

Assad fled from Syria at the beginning of December last year, when the rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group❶ (its leader, al—Sharaa, was previously better known under the pseudonym Abu Mohammed al-Julani) captured Damascus after less than two weeks of offensive from the north of the country, which led to the fall of the Assad regime.

The former Syrian president ended up in Moscow. He and his family members were granted asylum by Russia.

At the end of January, Reuters also wrote that the new Syrian authorities demanded that Russia extradite Assad to Damascus. The Kremlin then declined to comment.

❶Terrorist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation