Shawdesh Desk:

Ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his family have received political asylum from the Kremlin for ‘humanitarian reasons’, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the report, a number of sources, including the BBC’s Russian service, for instance, have reported that al-Assad could possibly have been evacuated by a Russian plane from a Russian air base in Latakia which took off several hours ago with its transponders turned off.

Now Russian officials are in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, added the report available online.

According to a Kremlin source, the opposition have guaranteed the security of Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus, as well as Russian diplomatic missions in Syria, read the report.