He fled with his son to the Hmeimim base.. A British newspaper reveals Assad's last moments

A report by the British newspaper Financial Times - published today, Friday - revealed the last moments of the deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before he fled to Moscow, which granted him humanitarian asylum, based on interviews with 12 people familiar with the family's movements and Assad's escape.

The report stated that on the eve of the opposition factions’ control over the capital, Damascus, Bashar al-Assad boarded a Russian military armored vehicle with his eldest son, Hafez, leaving relatives and friends “frantically searching for the man who promised to protect them,” according to the newspaper.

The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that at 11 pm on December 7 (the night of the fall), Bashar al-Assad's old comrades, while passing in front of his house in the Al-Maliki neighborhood, found abandoned guard posts and empty buildings, while military uniforms were scattered in the streets.

The sources explained to the newspaper that by midnight, Assad was already on his way with Hafez to the Russian Hmeimim base in the Latakia province on the Mediterranean.

The sources also confirmed that Assad did not order the army to surrender until it was outside Damascus, and he also issued orders to burn offices and documents.

Wait for dawn

An informed source told the newspaper that Russia made Assad and his son wait at the Hmeimim base until 4 a.m. on December 8 before allowing them to head to Moscow.

Assad's daughter, Zeina, also joined her father and brother in Moscow, coming from the United Arab Emirates, where she was studying at the Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi, according to a source close to the family.

The fugitive family met with Asma al-Assad, who was in Moscow receiving cancer treatment, along with her mother and father, Fawaz al-Akhras, who was subject to US Treasury sanctions.

priority to his wealth

Assad was accompanied on his escape by at least two of his financial followers who hold the keys to the assets smuggled abroad, namely Yasser Ibrahim and Mansour Azzam, according to the assumptions of informed sources quoted by the Financial Times.

The sources said that Assad's choice of companions for his escape journey indicates that "the priority was his wealth, not his family," as those close to him later fled on their own, either to Lebanon, Iraq, the Emirates, or European countries for those who held foreign passports. Some of them also hid in the Russian embassy in Damascus, after they discovered Assad's escape, who had promised victory until the last moment.

Among those left behind by Assad was his brother Maher, the former commander of the Fourth Division, who fled to Iraq after his brother's escape was discovered, according to informed sources quoted by the newspaper.

"He didn't say a word"

The sources said that Assad did not say a single word to those he pledged to protect, and left many of his former followers in a state of shock and extreme anger, and he did not bother to warn his relatives, including his cousins, brothers, nieces and nephews, as well as his wife's family.

Four days before leaving Damascus, the ousted president became increasingly desperate, telling Russia he was willing to meet the political opposition in Geneva for talks, but Russia apparently didn't care, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.

Russia is unlikely to hand over the ousted Syrian president to stand trial after his bloody rule of Syria, as he is expected to spend his life on the run in Moscow.

Source: Financial Times