Bashar Al-Assad’s desperate escape from Syria as his regime came crashing down was planned by Russia and kept secret from even his closest aids and family members, sources have revealed.
As rebel fighters closed in on Damascus it became clear that the brutal dictator’s fate was being sealed, and Moscow decided to intervene to get him out of the country.
Telling no one of the plans, he boarded his private jet from the capital’s airport in the early hours of December 8.
The plane headed towards the Mediterranean Sea before disappearing from the map, presumably as pilots turned off the transponder that tracks flights and reports their position to air traffic control.
It vanished shortly after making a U-turn as it made its way over the city of Homs – seemingly along the route to the Russian Hmeimim airbase in the northeastern city of Latakia.
The presidential jet is then believed to have landed at the base, where Assad was transferred to a Russian military plane and flown under the radar to Moscow.
His immediate family, including British-born wife Asma and three adult children, were waiting for him there after they were granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.
Within hours of him fleeing, rebels led by Islamist group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the capital Damascus and declared Syria to be free from his tyranny.
The exile of the Syrian dictator and his family brought the Assad dynasty’s more than 50-year rule and his 24-year reign to a shuddering halt, as well as abruptly ended a bloody 13-year civil war.
Rebels stormed the Assads’ palaces and private homes, with looters taking their hastily abandoned belongings and exposing elements of the dictator’s lavish private life to the world.
Cooked food was even left on the stove, one video appeared to show, while family photo albums and documents were left strewn around his official residences.
Seemingly breaking his silence a week after the dramatic events, an astonishing statement was yesterday released on Assad’s Presidential Telegram detailing his final hours in Syria.
It appeared to confirm that he did leave Damascus for Hmeimim in the early hours of December 8, shortly before Islamist rebels seized the city.
But the statement went on to insist that he was forced to leave Syria when the Moscow-controlled airbase came under drone attack, prompting Russia to order his evacuation.
‘My departure from Syria was neither planned nor during the final hours of the battles, as some claim,’ Assad declared.
‘I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024.
‘At no point did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.’
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued his first statement since he was deposed by rebel groups and fled to Russia less than two weeks ago
An An-124 heavy transport aircraft with its nose cone lifted, at the Russian Hmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria, last Friday
Flightradar24 showed a plane heading from the Syrian capital Damascus towards the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning
Assad portrayed himself as a devoted leader and family man who remained ‘alongside his people’ throughout the civil war—even as his forces, allied with Russia, Hezbollah, and Iranian-backed militias, were responsible for thousands of deaths.
‘I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people,’ he said.
He concluded by expressing ‘hope that Syria will once again be free and independent.’
Reflecting on the disgraced president’s final hours in office, Nadim Houri, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative regional think-tank, said: ‘Assad didn’t even make a last stand. He didn’t even rally his own troops. He let his supporters face their own fate.’
On Saturday, hours before he fled for Moscow, Assad assured a meeting of about 30 army and security chiefs at the defence ministry on Saturday that Russian military support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out, a commander who was present reportedly told Reuters.
Civilian staff were also unaware of his plans, the news outlet reports, with his presidential office manager reportedly told on Saturday night that he was going home.
Instead, he was headed to the airport, an aide in Assad’s inner circle claimed.
An image of Syrian President Bashar Assad, riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024
He also called his media adviser, Buthaina Shaaban, and asked her to come to his home to write him a speech, the aide said. She arrived to find no one was there.
Assad’s last prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, said he spoke to the then-president on the phone at 10.30pm on Saturday.
‘In our last call, I told him how difficult the situation was and that there was huge displacement (of people) from Homs toward Latakia… that there was panic and horror in the streets,’ he told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV this week.
‘He replied: ‘Tomorrow, we will see’,’ Jalali added. ”Tomorrow, tomorrow’, was the last thing he told me.’
Jalali said he tried to call Assad again at the break of dawn on Sunday, but that there was no response.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is believed to have spearheaded the diplomatic effort to secure Assad’s safety, two regional officials told Reuters.
One Western security source said that Lavrov did ‘whatever he could’ to secure Assad’s safe departure.
Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship, Assad and his family will now start a new life in Russia.
They are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of keeping up their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Financial Times has uncovered records showing that Assad’s regime flew two tonnes of banknotes into Vnukovo airport in Moscow to be deposited at Russian banks between 2018 and 2019.
The shipments came at a time when Syria was dependant on Russia’s military support, including mercenaries from the Wagner group.
At the same time Assad’s family began buying hoards of luxury properties in Moscow, the FT reported.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia’s status as a safe haven for the clan.
This included the purchase of at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.
The two-towered skyscraper – which until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 was Europe’s tallest building – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.
Back Assad’s former residence in Damascus, secret tunnels beneath an Assad family mansion were reportedly uncovered after rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a possible escape route for the dictator and his allies.
Meanwhile, in Syria its citizen look to rebuild their nation after 13 years of war and – for the first time in six decades – they look to a future without the Assad family’s autocratic rule.
As Assad stews in Moscow, Islamist rebel group HTS is setting about bringing Syria under control, establishing a transition government and working to roll out aid and services to civilians.
Last week, HTS used state television to announce Mohammad al-Bashir – the head of the group’s so-called ‘Salvation Government’ in Syria’s northwest Idlib province – as interim Prime Minister of a transitional cabinet that will remain in place until March 1.
Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition in Syria will be key in ensuring the country gets the economic support it needs, United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday.
‘There is a clear international willingness to engage. The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations too, and full reconstruction,’ he said.
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