Ammon News - President-elect Donald Trump said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the country when Russian President Vladimir Putin was "no longer interested" in protecting him.

Al-Assad's nearly quarter-century rule ended Saturday when he boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination, according to Reuters, citing two senior army officials.

"Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer," Trump said on his Truth Social on Sunday. "There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever."

Trump added that there should be an immediate cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine and negotiations to "stop the madness" should begin.

"Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," he said."

NYP