Assad flees to Moscow as regime collapses and UK calls him a monster

Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow as his regime collapses, with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling him a "monster" and the "rat of Damascus." Reports of atrocities in Assad's prisons have emerged, highlighting the regime's brutality. Lammy stated that the UK government will not reengage with Assad, labeling him a criminal who used chemical weapons. He described the regime's fall as a humiliation for both Russia and Iran, which had supported Assad. Experts view this as a significant political defeat for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who intervened in Syria in 2015. Russia is reportedly preparing to evacuate military assets from Syria amid uncertainty about the future of its bases there.