This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Monday the 9th of December, these are our main

stories. Russian state news agencies have announced that Syria's deposed president Bashar al-Assad

is in Moscow and has been granted political asylum. The victorious Islamist rebel leader in Syria

told supporters at a historic mosque

in Damascus that all Syrians could now breathe freely. In other news, Donald Trump has threatened

to take the United States out of NATO if the other allies don't pay their bills and treat America

fairly. Also in this podcast,

I'm very hopeful for every mother who had the chance to meet her son again,

for every husband who had the chance to meet his wife again,

for every kid who was born in prison,

and now for the first time go out to the world.

A former Syrian prisoner on how it feels to see thousands of other political prisoners freed.

Two weeks ago, it didn't seem possible.

Now Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow, swept away at breakneck speed,

and the Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Gilani has addressed supporters inside a mosque in Damascus.

This victory, my brothers, is a new history for the entire Islamic nation.

This victory, my brothers, is a new history for the region.

More about the rebels and international reaction on the way for you. First, a sense of

the joy on the streets of Syria. It's almost like a dream. It's like a dream. I need someone to

wake me up. What great joy for the people. There is love as if they were waiting for a long time for us to liberate them from this dirt of a regime.

But not everyone shares the gibilations such as this woman in Damascus.

...