FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
"He fled like a dog in the night," said a person familiar with Assad's escape from Damascus.
On the eve of the fall of his capital, Bashar al-Assad piled into a Russian armored car with his eldest son Hafez and drove away, leaving relatives, friends and loyalists frantically searching for the man he had promised to protected them.
Not long after, around 11:00 p.m. on December 7, his longtime associates passing his home in the affluent Damascus neighborhood of Malki found abandoned guard posts and mostly empty buildings: the lights still on. lit, half-drunk cups of coffee and military uniforms strewn across the street.
By midnight, the then-Syrian president was already on his way with Hafez to Russia's Hmeimim air base on Syria's northwest coast, according to a rebel military commander, a former intelligence officer and people familiar with the Assad family's escape.
Not until outside Damascus did Assad tell his army to fold, ordering them to burn offices and documents, according to a member of the rebel military council and a person with knowledge of the matter. Russia, one of Assad's main foreign backers during the 13-year civil war, had promised Hmeimim safe passage. An HTS commander denied that the group had negotiated Assad's departure.
Despite helping the Assads leave the capital, Moscow nevertheless made the father and son wait until 4 a.m. on December 8, when they were granted asylum on humanitarian grounds. They soon left for Russia, abruptly ending the family's brutal five-decade rule.
The Financial Times pieced together Assad's final days and hours in power from more than a dozen interviews, including regime insiders and people familiar with the family's movements. The sources requested anonymity to speak freely to discuss sensitive issues. Efforts to reach Assad and his family members in Moscow were unsuccessful.
Few saw the rebel offensive coming — not least the president, who thought he had won the civil war sparked by his brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011. Assad felt he was finally on his way to global rehabilitation. . Following the Arab world's lead, some European countries were also beginning to make strides.
But in the end, the rebels, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, took just 10 days to capture the capital after launching their lightning offensive.
In Moscow, Assad was reunited with his wife Asma, who, people familiar with the escape said, has been there for several weeks undergoing treatment for a second bout of cancer. Also in the Russian capital were her mother and father, Fawaz al-Akhras, who was hit with sanctions by the US Treasury earlier this month. The Assads' children, including daughter Zein, who studied at the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, have now joined them, according to people close to the family.
Assad left without so much as a whisper to the people who had pledged loyalty to him for decades, leaving many former associates stunned and exhilarated by the defection. He didn't even bother to warn relatives - including cousins, siblings, nieces and nephews, as well as his wife's family - who were left to fend for themselves as the rebels marched on Damascus.
Disillusioned loyalists saw it as the ultimate proof of Assad's gross self-absorption, a trait that led him to unleash brutality on his own people and plunder Syria's resources for his own enrichment.
"He fled like a dog in the night ," said a person familiar with Assad's escape from Damascus. " He was telling people around him until an hour before he left that everything was going to be okay. "
Then-Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali told Saudi Al Arabiya television last week that he had spoken to the then-president on the phone at 10:30 p.m. on December 7, telling him of the panic and terror in the streets and the massive displacement from central Syria. towards the coast. He replied: "Tomorrow we will see" , said Jalali. "' Tomorrow, tomorrow ,' was the last thing he said to me." Asad never received Jalal's next dawn calls.
The FT has not been able to verify all the passengers on Assad's escape flight. But regime insiders are convinced he left with at least two financial associates who hold the keys to the assets moved abroad: Yassar Ibrahim and Mansour Azzam. While unconfirmed, it underscores the belief, even in loyalist circles, that Assad prioritized his wealth over his extended family.
In his first public comments since HTS launched its offensive, Assad this week gave his own version of events, saying he had stayed in Damascus until the early hours of Sunday, "doing my duties ." . He insisted that his departure was not premeditated.
Video taken by rebels and citizens who stormed Assad's private residence after his flight suggests a hasty exit: family photo albums, a stocked pantry and dozens of Hermès bags and shopping boxes in the first lady's closets.
Ky largim i papritur ndodhi pas ditëve të përpjekjeve të dështuara diplomatike ndaj dashamirësve të tij prej kohësh Moskë dhe Teheran. Ndërsa mbështetja e Rusisë dhe Iranit e kishte mbështetur regjimin e Asadit për gati një dekadë, ata tani nuk ishin më të gatshëm dhe as në gjendje t'i vinin në shpëtim, të shpërqendruar nga konfliktet e tyre me Ukrainën dhe Izraelin, respektivisht.
Ndërsa rebelët filluan sulmin e tyre të planifikuar prej kohësh në provincën veriore të Aleppos, Assad vizitoi Moskën për t'u lutur për ndërhyrje ushtarake. Katër ditë më vonë, pasi qyteti i dytë i Sirisë kishte rënë dhe me rebelët e udhëhequr nga HTS që po shtriheshin drejt jugut, ministri i jashtëm iranian Abbas Araghchi vizitoi Damaskun.
Araghchi u largua nga Damasku për në Ankara, ku zyrtarët turq prisnin të merrnin një mesazh nga Asad. Në vend të kësaj, ata nuk morën asgjë. Presidenti turk Rexhep Tajip Erdogan, mbështetësi kryesor i rebelëve sirianë që nga viti 2011, ishte përpjekur vazhdimisht të rivendoste marrëdhëniet me Asadin, së fundmi në korrik. Ish-presidenti sirian i kundërshtoi çdo herë përpjekjet.
Assad u bë gjithnjë e më i dëshpëruar. Sipas njerëzve të njohur me uverturën, tre ose katër ditë përpara se të largohej nga Damasku, ai i sinjalizoi Moskës se ishte i gatshëm të takonte opozitën politike në mërgim në Gjenevë për bisedime – diçka që ai prej kohësh kishte refuzuar ta bënte. Por mesazhi nuk duket se është përcjellë nga rusët.
Që kur rebelët përmbysën regjimin e Asadit, besnikët dhe përfituesit janë larguar nga Damasku – shumica dërrmuese e tyre me makinë përtej kufirit me Libanin për në Bejrut, ku shumë prej tyre u strehuan në shtëpitë e tyre të dyta ose hotelet luksoze, me siguri të madhe jashtë.
Në dhomën e mëngjesit prej pelushi, të njomur nga dielli të hotelit Phenicia të Bejrutit, sirianë që mbanin çanta Louis Vuitton hëngrën vezë të ziera dhe kivi dhe folën me tone të heshtura për vendin e tyre dhe hapat e ardhshëm. Në një tavolinë, tre gra treguan tregimet e arratisjes së tyre gjatë natës dhe debatuan nëse do t'i regjistronin fëmijët e tyre në shkollat e Dubait. Njëra foli për dikë që ajo njihte, i cili ishte zhdukur që nga rënia e Asadit.
Dëshmitarët thonë se të arratisurit në Bejrut përfshinin disa prej bagëtive dhe ndihmësve të lartë të Asadit – njerëz të afërt me regjimin që ishin dhëmbëza jetike në makinerinë që mbante familjen në pushtet në pushtet. Këshilltarja e gjatë e Asadit, Bouthaina Shaaban ishte një prej tyre.
Por shpejt, ata u shpërndanë jashtë Libanit: ata me pasaporta të huaja fluturuan në vendet evropiane, të tjerët në Emiratet e Bashkuara Arabe. Zyrtarë të lartë ushtarakë shkuan në Rusi ose Libi, sipas njerëzve të njohur me këtë çështje. Shaaban u pa më vonë në Dubai, një strehë prej kohësh për mërgimtarët dhe bashkëpunëtorët e regjimit të rrëzuar.
Unlike Bashar, his younger brother Maher - commander of the army's notorious Fourth Division and a key link in the regime's centralized corruption schemes - warned his men on Saturday afternoon to flee to Lebanon. But he had to try to get out on his own, allegedly crossing the border into Iraq. The FT could not confirm whether he remained in Iraq or had gone to Russia.
Among those left behind by Assad were his immediate relatives: his maternal cousin and intelligence chief Iyad Makhlouf, Makhlouf's twin brother Ihab, and their mother. The trio was attacked on their way out of Syria and into Lebanon, killing Ihab and injuring Iyad and his mother, three sources said.
Iyad was treated at Chtoura Hospital in Lebanon, according to two hospital workers in the area. He then left for Dubai, said a person familiar with the family's outing.
His brother Rami Makhlouf was the regime's most important businessman, at one point believed to control over half of Syria's economy. But while Rami fell out of favor with the regime in 2020 and was living under de facto house arrest, Syrians with knowledge of the regime say Iyad and Ihab remained close to Bashar and his wife Asma. Ram's location is still unknown.
Ali Mamlouk, Assad's feared senior adviser and former head of general intelligence, is also absent. Several prominent Syrian loyalist families have taken refuge in the Russian embassy in Damascus, but the FT could not confirm their identities. The new government has told the Russians not to facilitate the exit of Syrian citizens abroad.
Four hours before leaving Damascus, Assad's 23-year-old son, Hafez, was seen strolling through a park near the presidential palace and hanging out with friends. He had recently returned from Russia, where he defended his doctoral thesis in physical and mathematical sciences, Moscow State University records show.
He later went home to have dinner with his father, according to a witness. Rumors spread that Assad would make a public speech, which left Syrians across the country and the world glued to their television screens. It was unclear whether Hafez knew that, just a few hours later, he would leave Syria forever./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Financial Times"
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