Report: Russia Offered Assad Asylum

Russia has offered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad political asylum, a report in the Arab media said Sunday. The London-based Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat said that the offer extends to Assad and his family. The government would then be run by Assad's vice-president, Farouk ash-Shara, for a transition period, until new elections are held.

Moscow presented the offer to ash-Shara in a meeting several weeks ago, the report said. A source in Russia said that appointing ash-Shara to run the government would immediately reduce tensions, because he was a Sunni Muslim, the same sect as the majority of Syrians, as opposed to an Alawite, the sect Assad belongs to.