MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. The situation in Syria was the focus of a meeting between Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Egyptian Ambassador to Moscow Nazih el-Nagary, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"Special attention during the meeting was focused on the developments in Syria. The sides stressed the need for preserving the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of this Arab country. They also discussed the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Sudan, and Libya," it said, adding that the diplomats also addressed a number of practical aspects of Russian-Egyptian cooperation.
The meeting was requested by the Egyptian ambassador.
Syria’s armed opposition units launched a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates on November 27. By the evening on December 7, they had seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus while government troops withdrew from the city. The head of the Syrian government, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, expressed his readiness for a peaceful transfer of power in the country. According to a statement from the Russian foreign ministry, Bashar Assad resigned as president of Syria and fled the country, instructing for the peaceful transfer of power.