Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad said he did not consider stepping down or fleeing the country, but remained until Russia requested his "immediate evacuation," according to a statement published on the Telegram account of the former Syrian Presidency.

Israel is celebrating the fall of Assad because it breaks the noose that Iran had been patiently tightening around Israel’s borders in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran’s pincer is now broken and rendered useless. From the point of view of Israel’s wider conflict with the Islamic Republic, the collapse of Assad’s regime is a strategic victory.