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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.

Russia granted asylum to Syria's deposed president, Bashar al-Assad, and his family.

That's according to state-run news media tasks.

He fled to Moscow after the rebel group HTS reached Syria's capital, Damascus, overnight.

Russia was a key ally of the Assad regime.

President Biden says the U.S. is worried about the extremist Islamic State or ISIS, taking

advantage of a power vacuum in Syria to seize control. And here's Luke Eric reports, Biden addressed

the nation from the Roosevelt Room at the White House this afternoon.

President Biden characterized the fall of Assad's regime in Syria as a time of great risk.

We're clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum.

Biden said American forces launched dozens of precision airstrikes against their camps and

operatives in Syria on Sunday. The U.S. still has some 900 troops in Syria.

But the president also celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad. It's a moment of historic

opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country.

Moving forward, the president said the U.S. will support Syria's neighbors, continue military

operations against the Islamic State, and engaged with the forces that now control Syria.

Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.

In well, NPR's Jackie Northam reports on the end of more than a half century of brutal rule by the Assad family.

There are few tears being shed in Syria for Bashar al-Assad. When he succeeded his father in

2000, Assad was seen as a reformer, but it didn't last long. He became a cruel despot crushing

any dissent, torturing, killing opponents, bombing and using chemical weapons on his own people.

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