US to Support Efforts to Hold Accountable Those Who Helped Assad - Blinken
01:23 GMT 09.12.2024 (Updated: 02:53 GMT 09.12.2024)
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WASHINGTON, December 9 (Sputnik) - The United States will support international efforts to hold accountable those who helped ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
"We will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities and abuses perpetrated against the Syrian people, including the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice," Blinken said in a statement.
US President Joe Biden previously said that "Assad should be held accountable."
Syrian armed groups captured the national capital of Damascus on Sunday. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said that he and 18 other ministers had decided to remain in Damascus. Al-Jalali also said he had contacted the leaders of militant groups that entered the city. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Syrian President Bashar Assad had stepped down and left Syria after negotiations with some participants of the Syrian conflict.
On Sunday, December 8, a source in the Kremlin told Sputnik that Assad and members of his family had arrived in Moscow, and Russia had granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds. The source also noted that Russian officials were in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, whose leaders have guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria.
