0h 25min, dec 8, 2024 y - Starmer Welcomes Fall of Assad

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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the fall of Bashar al-Assad's "barbaric regime" in Syria, as he called for the restoration of "peace and stability".

The ousted Syrian president - who Russian state media report is in Moscow having been granted asylum by Russia - fled the country after his government fell to a lightning rebel offensive early on Sunday.

Sir Keir said the Syrian people "had to put up with [Assad's] brutal regime for far, far too long".

When asked if the government would engage with rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), set up as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and proscribed as a terrorist group by the UK, he said it was "early days" but that there needed to be a "political solution".

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