US President-elect Donald Trump says Syria fell because Russia lost interest in protecting the embattled middle eastern country.
Trump’s comment came after rebel groups seized Damascus in the early hours of Sunday.
Shortly, reports surfaced saying President Bashar al-Assad fled the country by plane to an unnamed destination.
Earlier, Trump said the US had nothing to do with the takeover and asked that they not get involved.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president-elect said Assad fled because Russia refocused its priorities.
“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer,” he said.
“There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever.”
The Syrian rebel forces claimed their surprise lightning offensive “liberated” Damascus.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, added that Russia and Iran, Assad’s other main backer, “are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success”.
