how Bashar al-Assad prepared his flight to Russia after the fall of his regime

SYRIA – More than 54 years of a Baathist regime which disappeared in a few days. With the capture of several major Syrian cities by Islamist rebel groups led by Ahmed al-Chareh and their arrival in Damascus, the then president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, took off in the direction of Russia, on December 8, to avoid facing the anger of the Syrians, while the regime is accused of the worst abuses. A leak which according to information from Reuterswas organized hastily and in the greatest secrecy.

The news agency interviewed a dozen sources close to the events who affirmed that Bashar al-Assad had not told anyone about his plan to leave Syria. “On the contrary, collaborators, civil servants and even relatives were deceived or kept in the dark”according to Reuters. To the point that just hours before his flight on December 8, the head of state even assured his troops that Russian military support would soon reach Syria, according to a commander present during a meeting with leaders of the army at the Ministry of Defense.

Same thing for his closest personal entourage. After his day’s work that day, Bashar al-Assad made his director of the presidential office believe that he was going home, but was in fact heading to the airport, reports a close associate. His media advisor, Buthaina Shaaban, was also called to help him prepare a speech but when she arrived at the dictator’s home she found no one.

Several sources also reveal from Reuters that a large part of the Assad family was left out of the exile plans of the “butcher of Damascus”. His own younger brother Maher was not informed and had to develop a plan to leave the country himself by going to Iraq by helicopter, before joining Russia, assures a collaborator. RFI recalls that Maher al-Assad is subject to international sanctions and a complaint issued by France for “complicity in crimes against humanity”, suspected of having actively participated in the 2013 sarin chemical attacks.

Assad’s maternal cousins, Ehab and Eyad Makhlouf, were also abandoned when Damascus fell, according to a Syrian aide and a Lebanese security official. They reportedly tried to flee by car to Lebanon, but were ambushed by rebels. This information could not be verified and their current status is not known.

A hasty escape

Reuters reports that Assad fled by plane from Damascus, flying under the radar and turning off the plane’s transponder to avoid detection by rebel groups. He joined the Russian air base of Hmeimim, in the Syrian coastal town of Latakia, then to Moscow, where he found his wife and three children, who were already there, according to three former collaborators and a senior regional official.

The agency also explains that videos taken by rebels and citizens who invaded the presidential complex after his escape and published on social networks show personal effects left behind, and even food on the stove, suggesting a chaotic escape and rushed.

No Russian military intervention

It was the lack of Russian support that led to the flight of Bashar al-Assad, when the latter understood that there would be no Russian military intervention in Syria to save his regime. Same thing with its Iranian ally. In the days before the rebels arrived in Damascus, the former president tried to do everything possible to obtain outside help, without success. According to three regional diplomats, he went to Moscow for this purpose on November 28, but the Kremlin was hardly receptive to his request, too busy waging the war in Ukraine.

Although Bashar al-Assad still obtained political asylum from the Russian authorities, several relatives revealed that he would first have liked to obtain it in the United Arab Emirates. But the Gulf country reportedly refused for fear of international reactions. Reuters also reveals that at the request of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkey and Qatar concluded agreements with HTS to facilitate the former president’s exit from both countries and guarantee his security. The two countries have not confirmed this information.

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