Bashar al-Assad confided in virtually nobody about his plans to escape Syria as his reign collapsed. As an alternative, aides, officers or even kin had been deceived or stored at nighttime, greater than a dozen folks with wisdom of the occasions advised Reuters. 
A torn poster presentations ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad on the front of the infamous safety detention centre known as Palestine Department, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.(AP) Hours sooner than he escaped for Moscow, Assad confident a gathering of about 30 military and safety chiefs on the defence ministry on Saturday that Russian army beef up was once on its method and instructed floor forces to carry out, consistent with a commander who was once provide and asked anonymity to talk about the briefing. Civilian personnel had been none the wiser, too. Assad advised his presidential place of work supervisor on Saturday when he completed paintings he was once going house however as a substitute headed to the airport, consistent with an aide in his interior circle. He also referred to as his media adviser, Buthaina Shaaban, and requested her to come back to his house to write down him a speech, the aide stated. She arrived to search out nobody was once there. 
An aerial photograph presentations crowds of Syrians elevating a large independence-era flag, utilized by the opposition for the reason that rebellion started in 2011, as they have fun the autumn of Bashar al-Assad’s iron-fisted rule previous this week on the central Umayyad Sq. in Damascus on December 13, 2024.(AFP) “Assad did not even make a final stand. He did not even rally his personal troops,” stated Nadim Houri, govt director of the Arab Reform Initiative regional think-tank. “He let his supporters face their very own destiny.” Reuters was once not able to touch Assad in Moscow, the place he has been granted political asylum. Interviews with 14 folks conversant in his ultimate days and hours in energy paint an image of a pace-setter casting round for out of doors assist to increase his 24-year rule sooner than leaning on deception and stealth to plan his go out from Syria within the early hours of Sunday. Lots of the assets, who come with aides within the former president’s interior circle, regional diplomats and safety assets and senior Iranian officers, requested for his or her names to be withheld to freely talk about delicate issues. Assad did not even tell his more youthful brother, Maher, commander of the Military’s elite 4th Armoured Department, about his go out plan, consistent with 3 aides. Maher flew a helicopter to Iraq after which to Russia, one of the vital folks stated. Assad’s maternal cousins, Ehab and Eyad Makhlouf, had been in a similar way left at the back of as Damascus fell to the rebels, consistent with a Syrian aide and Lebanese safety legitimate. The pair attempted to escape by means of automobile to Lebanon however had been ambushed at the method by means of rebels who shot Ehab useless and wounded Eyad, they stated. There was once no legitimate affirmation of the loss of life and Reuters was once not able to independently examine the incident. 
This aerial photograph presentations Syrians amassing close to a destroyed construction within the central town of Homs as they have fun the autumn of Bashar al-Assad’s iron-fisted rule previous this week, on December 13, 2024.(AFP) Assad himself fled Damascus by means of airplane on Sunday, Dec. 8, flying beneath the radar with the airplane’s transponder switched off, two regional diplomats stated, escaping the clutches of rebels storming the capital. The dramatic go out ended his 24 years of rule and his circle of relatives’s part a century of unbroken energy, and taken the 13-year civil struggle to an abrupt halt. He flew to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase within the Syrian coastal town of Latakia, and from there directly to Moscow. Assad’s quick circle of relatives, spouse Asma and their 3 youngsters, had been already looking ahead to him within the Russian capital, consistent with 3 former shut aides and a senior regional legitimate. Movies of Assad’s house, taken by means of rebels and voters who thronged the presidential complicated following his flight and posted on social media, counsel he made a hasty go out, appearing cooked meals left at the range and a number of other private assets left at the back of, similar to circle of relatives photograph albums. RUSSIA AND IRAN: NO MILITARY RESCUE
There can be no army rescue from Russia, whose intervention in 2015 had helped flip the tide of the civil struggle in favour of Assad, or from his different staunch best friend Iran. This have been made transparent to the Syrian chief within the days main as much as his go out, when he sought help from more than a few quarters in a determined race to hold to energy and protected his protection, consistent with the folks interviewed by means of Reuters. Assad visited Moscow on Nov. 28, an afternoon after Syrian insurrection forces attacked the northern province of Aleppo and lightning force around the nation, however his pleas for army intervention fell on deaf ears within the Kremlin which was once unwilling to interfere, 3 regional diplomats stated. Hadi al-Bahra, the top of Syria’s major opposition in a foreign country, stated that Assad did not put across the truth of the location to aides again house, bringing up a supply inside of Assad’s shut circle and a regional legitimate. “He advised his commanders and colleagues after his Moscow commute that army beef up was once coming,” Bahra added. “He was once mendacity to them. The message he won from Moscow was once adverse.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised newshounds on Wednesday that Russia had spent numerous effort in serving to stabilise Syria prior to now however its precedence now was once the war in Ukraine. 4 days after that commute, on Dec. 2, Iranian International Minister Abbas Araqchi met with Assad in Damascus. By way of that point, the rebels from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist workforce had taken keep watch over of Syria’s second-largest town Aleppo and had been sweeping southwards as executive forces crumbled. Assad was once visibly distressed throughout the assembly, and conceded that his military was once too weakened to mount an efficient resistance, a senior Iranian diplomat advised Reuters. Assad by no means asked that Tehran deploy forces in Syria despite the fact that, consistent with two senior Iranian officers who stated he understood that Israel may just use this kind of intervention as a reason why to focus on Iranian forces in Syria and even Iran itself. The Kremlin and Russian overseas ministry declined to remark for this text, whilst the Iranian overseas ministry was once now not instantly to be had to remark. ASSAD CONFRONTS OWN DOWNFALL
After arduous his choices, Assad after all authorised the inevitability of his downfall and resolved to go away the rustic, finishing his circle of relatives’s dynastic rule which dates again to 1971. 3 participants of Assad’s interior circle stated he to start with sought after to hunt shelter within the United Arab Emirates, as rebels seized Aleppo and Homs and had been advancing against Damascus. They stated he was once rebuffed by means of the Emiratis who feared a global backlash for harbouring a determine matter to U.S. and Eu sanctions for allegedly the usage of chemical guns in a crackdown on insurgents, accusations that Assad has rejected as a fabrication. The UAE executive did not instantly reply to a request for remark. But Moscow, whilst unwilling to interfere militarily, was once now not ready to desert Assad, consistent with a Russian diplomatic supply who spoke on situation of anonymity. Russia’s International Minister Sergei Lavrov, attending the Doha discussion board in Qatar on Saturday and Sunday, spearheaded the diplomatic effort to protected the protection of Assad, enticing Turkey and Qatar to leverage their connections to HTS to protected Assad’s protected go out to Russia, two regional officers stated. One Western safety supply stated that Lavrov did “no matter he may just” to protected Assad’s protected departure. Qatar and Turkey made preparations with HTS to facilitate Assad’s go out, 3 of the assets stated, regardless of legitimate declare by means of each international locations that that they had no contacts with HTS, which is designated by means of the U.S. and the U.N. as a terrorist organisation. Moscow additionally coordinated with neighbouring states to be sure that a Russian airplane leaving Syrian airspace with Assad on board would now not be intercepted or centered, 3 of the assets stated. Qatar’s overseas ministry did not instantly reply to queries about Assad’s go out, whilst Reuters was once not able to achieve HTS for remark. A Turkish executive legitimate stated there was once no Russian request to make use of Turkish airspace for Assad’s flight, despite the fact that did not deal with whether or not Ankara labored with HTS to facilitate the get away. Assad’s final top minister, Mohammed Jalali, stated he spoke to his then-president at the telephone on Saturday night time at 10.30 pm. “In our final name, I advised him how tough the location was once and that there was once large displacement (of folks) from Homs towards Latakia … that there was once panic and horror within the streets,” he advised Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV this week. “He responded: ‘The next day, we can see’,” Jalali added. “‘The next day, the next day’, was once the very last thing he advised me.” Jalali stated he attempted to name Assad once more as first light broke on Sunday, however there was once no reaction.
