Assad and his family are in Moscow, claim Russian news agencies

Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow, Russian news agencies announced Sunday evening citing a Kremlin source, hours after he fled the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus.

"Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow," the source told the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. "Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds," he added.

Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus on Sunday after Assad fled Syria, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his rule. Crowds ransacked Assad's luxurious home after the rebels earlier Sunday declared he had fled, in a spectacular end to five decades of Baath party rule.

The foreign ministry of his key backer, Russia, had announced earlier on Sunday that Assad resigned from the presidency and left Syria, without saying where. Residents in the capital were seen cheering in the streets as the rebel factions heralded the departure of "tyrant" Assad, saying: "We declare the city of Damascus free."

AFPTV footage showed a column of smoke rising from central Damascus, and AFP correspondents in the city saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad's home after it had been looted.

The rooms of the residence had been left completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor, while an entrance hall at the presidential palace not far away had been torched.