Syrias Al-Sharaa seeks extradition of Kremlin ally al-Assad in first Moscow trip

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived on an unprecedented official go to to Moscow on Wednesday, less than a yr after he led a swift insurgent offensive that ousted one of Russia’s top international allies, the dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Assad was an ally of Russia, and Moscow’s scorched-earth intervention in assist of him a decade in the past turned the tide of Syria’s civil struggle, preserving al-Assad in his seat until his swift elimination in December.

Now, al-Sharaa, who was greeted at the Kremlin with full honours, is predicted to demand al-Assad’s extradition so he can face a trial back home.

Al-Sharaa, who has also courted the US and the West since he got here to energy in December 2024, has taken a pragmatic method with Moscow, permitting Russia to retain control over its air and naval bases on the Syrian coast despite being on reverse ends of the 13-year struggle.

In the run-up to the assembly, the Kremlin said that the future of the bases was on Moscow’s agenda.

Al-Sharaa didn’t point out the Russian army amenities in his transient televised remarks at the start of the assembly. Instead he selected to speak about the “historic ties” between the nations and famous the significance of developing them.

In flip, he was hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin for organising Syria’s parliamentary elections, which Putin said had been a “big success”.

Al-Assad uneasy subject for Moscow

Despite not explicitly mentioning the elephant in the room, it’s widely anticipated that al-Sharaa will broach the subject of al-Assad’s future in Russia.

Moscow, which has centered on its all-out struggle in Ukraine and stored only a small army contingent in Syria, didn’t attempt to bounce to al-Assad’s help and help in repelling the insurgent offensive. However, Russia did give asylum to al-Assad after he fled the nation.

In a current interview with the CBS News show 60 Minutes, al-Sharaa said the Syrian authorities “will use all available legal means” to demand the trial of al-Assad.

The Kremlin has largely avoided the subject so far.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasised that Moscow granted asylum to al-Assad on humanitarian grounds as “he and his family faced physical extermination.”

Lavrov rejected claims that the former Syrian president had recently been treated for poisoning, saying that he “had no problems in living in our capital and there have been no poisonings.”

Al-Sharaa’s top-level trip to Moscow was preceded by visits from Russian delegations to Damascus in January and September, while Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani visited Moscow in July.

For the new Syrian government, maintaining ties with Russia was important for rebuilding the war-shattered country and offered a way to diversify its foreign policy.

For the Kremlin, it’s essential to keep its naval and air bases in Syria, outposts crucial for maintaining Russia’s military presence in the Mediterranean.

In the CBS interview, al-Sharaa noted that “Russia has close and long-standing relations with Syria, which relate to the basic structure of the state and to energy and food, for which Syria depends partly on Russian supplies, as well as some old strategic interests.”

Tough man, strong past

Syria’s struggle which started in March 2011 killed almost 500,000 people and displaced half the prewar population of 23 million. More than 5 million Syrians fled as refugees, some of them to Europe.

Although many Syrians initially hoped for stability after al-Assad was ousted, militant assaults on members of the Alawite minority in March and the Druze minority in July claimed a whole lot of lives and revived security issues.

Al-Sharaa has notably held an in-person assembly with US President Donald Trump in May, where Trump lauded Al-Sharaa as a “younger, engaging man”.

“Tough man. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter,” Trump said.

“He’s got a real shot at holding it together … He’s a real leader. He led a charge, and he’s pretty amazing,” the US president added.

The assembly between the 2 leaders paved the way in which for the US to raise its sanctions imposed on al-Assad to put strain on his regime amid growing stories of struggle crimes and human rights violations.

Related

Moscow’s indiscriminate ways of attrition during its army intervention in Syria in favour of al-Assad launched in 2015 resulted in 1000’s of civilian deaths and aggravated the Syrian refugee disaster.

A 2020 UN Human Rights Council report said that the Russian air power’s actions in Syria “amounted to a war crime”.