Related Articles
Not lengthy after, at round 11pm on December 7, longtime associates driving previous his house within the upscale Damascus neighbourhood of Malki discovered deserted guardposts and largely empty buildings: lights nonetheless flickering, espresso cups half-drunk and army uniforms scattered on the road.
By midnight, the then Syrian president was already on his manner with Hafez to Russia’s Hmeimim air base on Syria’s north-west coast, in response to a insurgent army commander, an ex-intelligence officer and other people aware of the Assad household’s escape.
Not till he was outdoors Damascus did Assad inform his military to fold, giving them orders to burn down workplaces and paperwork, in response to a member of the insurgent army council and an individual with data of the occasions. Russia, one of Assad’s fundamental overseas backers throughout the 13-year-civil warfare, had promised protected passage to Hmeimim. An HTS commander denied the group had negotiated Assad’s exit.
Regardless of serving to the Assads flee the capital, Moscow nonetheless made the daddy and son wait till 4am on December 8, after they have been granted refuge on humanitarian grounds. They quickly took off for Russia, bringing the household’s brutal five-decade rule to an abrupt finish.
The Monetary Instances pieced collectively Assad’s closing days and hours in energy from greater than a dozen interviews, together with with regime insiders and other people aware of the household’s actions. The sources requested anonymity to talk freely to debate delicate issues. Efforts to succeed in Assad and his members of the family in Moscow have been unsuccessful.
Only a few noticed the insurgent offensive coming — not least the president, who thought he had received the civil warfare triggered by his brutal crack down on protesters in 2011. Assad felt he was lastly on his solution to world rehabilitation. Following the Arab world’s lead, some European international locations had additionally begun to make overtures.
However ultimately it took rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, simply 10 days to grab the capital after launching their lightning offensive.
In Moscow, Assad was reunited together with his spouse Asma, who, individuals aware of the escape stated, has been there for a number of weeks present process remedy for a second bout of most cancers. Additionally within the Russian capital have been her mom and father, Fawaz al-Akhras, who was hit with sanctions by the US Treasury earlier this month. The Assads’ youngsters, together with daughter Zein who was finding out on the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, have now joined them, in response to individuals near the household.
Assad left with out a lot as a whisper to the individuals who had pledged fealty to him for many years, leaving many former acolytes shocked and furious at being deserted. He didn’t even trouble warning kinfolk — together with cousins, siblings, nieces and nephews, in addition to his spouse’s household — who have been left to fend for themselves because the rebels marched on Damascus.
Disillusioned loyalists noticed it as closing proof of Assad’s overriding self-absorption, a trait that pushed him to unleash brutality on his individuals and plunder Syria’s sources for his personal enrichment.
“He ran away like a canine within the night time,” stated one individual aware of Assad’s exit from Damascus. “He was telling individuals round him as much as an hour earlier than he fled that every little thing was going to be OK.”
Then-prime minister Mohammed Jalali informed Saudi-owned Al Arabiya tv last week that he had spoken to his then-president on the telephone at 10.30pm on December 7, telling him of panic and horror on the streets, and big displacement from central Syria in the direction of the coast. “He replied: ‘Tomorrow, we are going to see’,” Jalali stated. “’Tomorrow, tomorrow’, was the last factor he informed me.” Assad by no means picked up Jalali’s subsequent calls at daybreak.
The FT has not been in a position to confirm all of the passengers on Assad’s escape flight. However regime insiders are satisfied that he left with at the very least two monetary acolytes who maintain the keys to the belongings squirrelled away overseas: Yassar Ibrahim and Mansour Azzam. Whereas unconfirmed, it underscores the assumption, even in loyalist circles, that Assad prioritised his wealth over his prolonged household.
In his first public feedback since HTS launched its offensive, Assad this week gave his personal model of occasions, saying he had remained in Damascus till the early hours of Sunday, “finishing up my duties”. He insisted his departure had not been premeditated.
Video taken by rebels and residents who swarmed Assad’s personal residence following his flight recommend a hasty exit: household photograph albums, stocked pantries, and dozens of Hermès procuring luggage and containers within the first woman’s closets.
That sudden departure occurred after days of failed diplomatic overtures to his longtime benefactors Moscow and Tehran. Whereas Russia and Iran’s assist had propped up Assad’s regime for almost a decade, they have been now not prepared nor in a position to come to his rescue, distracted by their very own conflicts with Ukraine and Israel, respectively.
As rebels started their long-planned assault on the northern province of Aleppo, Assad visited Moscow to plead for army intervention. 4 days later, after Syria’s second metropolis had fallen and with rebels led by HTS sweeping southwards, Iranian overseas minister Abbas Araghchi visited Damascus.
Araghchi left Damascus for Ankara, the place Turkish officers anticipated to obtain a message from Assad. As a substitute, they acquired nothing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the primary backer of Syrian rebels since 2011, had repeatedly tried to revive relations with Assad, most just lately in July. The former Syrian president rebuffed the makes an attempt each time.
Assad turned more and more determined. In keeping with individuals aware of the overture, three or 4 days earlier than leaving Damascus, he signalled to Moscow that he was prepared to fulfill exiled political opposition in Geneva for talks — one thing he had lengthy refused to do. However the message doesn’t seem to have been handed on by the Russians.
Since rebels toppled the Assad regime, loyalists and profiteers have streamed out of Damascus — the overwhelming majority of them driving throughout the border with Lebanon to Beirut, the place many holed up of their second houses or luxurious accommodations, with heavy safety outdoors.
Within the plush, sunsoaked breakfast room of Beirut’s Phoenicia lodge, Syrians toting Louis Vuitton purses ate poached eggs and kiwi and spoke in hushed tones about their nation and subsequent steps. On one desk, three ladies traded tales of their night-time escape and debated whether or not to enrol their youngsters in Dubai faculties. One talked about somebody she knew who had disappeared since Assad’s fall.
Witnesses say the escapees to Beirut included a number of of Assad’s bagmen and high aides — individuals near the regime who have been very important cogs within the equipment that saved the ruling household in energy. Assad’s longtime adviser Bouthaina Shaaban was one of them.
However quickly, they scattered out of Lebanon: these with overseas passports flew to European international locations, others to the United Arab Emirates. Senior army officers went to Russia or Libya, in response to individuals aware of the matter. Shaaban was later noticed in Dubai, lengthy a haven for exiles and ousted regime acolytes.
In contrast to Bashar, his youthful brother Maher — the commander of the military’s infamous Fourth Division and a key node within the regime’s centralised corruption schemes — warned his individuals on Saturday afternoon to flee to Lebanon. However he needed to scramble to get out himself, allegedly crossing the border to Iraq. The FT couldn’t affirm whether or not he remained in Iraq or had gone on to Russia.
Amongst these Assad left behind have been direct kinfolk: his maternal cousin and intelligence main Iyad Makhlouf, Makhlouf’s twin brother Ihab, and their mom. The trio got here below assault on their manner out of Syria and into Lebanon, killing Ihab and injuring Iyad and his mom, three sources stated.
Iyad was handled at Chtoura hospital in Lebanon in response to two hospital workers within the space. He then left for Dubai, an individual aware of the household’s exit stated.
His brother Rami Makhlouf was the regime’s most necessary businessman, at one level believed to regulate over half of Syria’s financial system. However whereas Rami fell out of favour with the regime in 2020 and was dwelling below de facto home arrest, Syrians with perception into the regime say Iyad and Ihab remained near Bashar and his spouse Asma. Rami’s whereabouts are nonetheless unknown.
Ali Mamlouk, Assad’s feared senior adviser and former basic intelligence chief, can also be lacking. A number of distinguished loyalist Syrian households have holed up within the Russian embassy in Damascus, however the FT couldn’t affirm their identities. The new authorities has informed the Russians to not facilitate the exit of Syrian nationals out of the nation.
4 hours earlier than departing Damascus, Assad’s 23-year-old son Hafez was noticed strolling round a park close to the presidential palace and hanging out with associates. He had just lately returned from Russia, the place he defended his doctoral thesis in bodily and mathematical sciences, Moscow State College data present.
He later went house to have dinner together with his father, in response to a witness. Rumours have been spreading that Assad was going to provide a public handle, which left Syrians across the nation and the world glued to their TV screens. It was unclear whether or not Hafez knew that, solely hours later, he can be leaving Syria for good.
Further reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Ankara and Daria Mosolova in London
