CNN
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While many in Syria celebrated the end of Bashar al-Assad’s long rule, rumors about his whereabouts circulated. Russia says he fled Syria – where exactly is unclear.

Assad has not been seen or heard from since the rebels declared Damascus “liberated” after searching the capital and seizing key sites. The whereabouts of his wife and two children are also unknown.

Since the beginning of the uprising and the rebels’ rapid advance through the country, Assad has kept a low profile.

After meeting with Iran’s foreign minister last weekend, he pledged to fight “terrorist organizations” but otherwise had little comment as rebels seized major cities.

On Saturday, as rebels surrounded Damascus, a source told CNN that Assad was nowhere to be found in the city.

Assad’s presidential guard is also no longer stationed at his usual residence, as would be the case if he were there, the source said, fueling speculation ahead of Sunday’s developments that he may have escaped.

The Syrian presidential office denied that Assad had left Damascus or traveled to another country, saying some foreign media were “spreading rumors and false news.”

After the rebels took the capital, they said he had fled and were looking for him. Some of the fighters, along with civilians, began searching his official residences.

Amid these rumors, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement on Sunday saying Assad had “decided to resign from office as president and leave the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.”

The statement added that Russia “did not take part in these negotiations.”

A source close to the rebels told CNN that the ousted president left Damascus under Russian protection, and another source said he traveled to Latakia in northwestern Syria, where Russia has an air base.

Flight tracking data shows a plane took off from Damascus airport toward the coast just before 2 a.m. local time on Sunday before making a sudden U-turn over the city of Homs and disappearing from the map. CNN cannot confirm whether Assad was on that flight.

Who could take Assad? Russia is an obvious target, although the State Department did not say where he was headed. Iran is another possibility. Wherever he ends up, it will be an abrupt and ignominious end to more than two decades in power.