After 14 years of civil war, Syria is trying to recover from its ruins. Bashar al-Assad, who He held all power for two decades (his father Hafez did it for almost three years), he sees it from afar. The dictator fled as soon as he learned of the arrival in Damascus of jihadists and rebels who now hold power in the person of Ahmed al Shara, the interim president.
Al Assad (60 years old) takes the first plane he finds and leaves for Russia, a former ally of his regime and that of his father. He has been living in Moscow for a year, after The Kremlin granted him asylum “on humanitarian grounds.”
The former dictator and his family reside in modern financial district of the Russian capitalalthough the exact location is not yet confirmed, as reported in October Time. A source close to the Assads told this German weekly that the family owns several apartments and sometimes stays in a villa outside Moscow.
The apartments are described as luxury homes with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and direct access to shopping centers and restaurants. As this source explained TimeAl Assad “spends a lot of his time playing video games online” and deals with bodyguards from a private security company paid by the Russian government.
The fortune of the Syrian satrap
- In 2022, the US government estimated the assets of Al Assad’s family to be between $1 billion and $2 billion, Euronews reports. This would be, according to Washington, the result of “arms and drug trafficking, and the rental economy” via front companies. According to what was published in the press, between 2018 and 2019, the Al Assad regime transferred some 237 million euros to Moscow. With this money, he would have bought at least 18 luxury apartments. In fact, when he was in power, Bashar and his family often spent time in the Russian capital.
Former President of the Syrian Arab Republic lives under strict Russian surveillancewith public appearances banned, travel restricted and no political activity. Al Assad issued only one public statement, eight days after his escape. It is not a chosen silence.
It is a silence imposed by the one who gave him room and shelter. Russia granted Assad asylum in April this year. Since then has imposed strict conditions on your stay. The former Syrian dictator must refrain from any media appearances and political activities, Russian Ambassador to Iraq Elbrus Kutrashev told the Islamic Republic News Agency.
assassination attempt
This is confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the United Kingdom. Al Assad’s travel is very limited and he has stopped speaking publicly. The Russian secret services keep him under particularly strict protection. Of course, after two decades of wielding power with an iron fist, Hafez’s son He has many enemies and his life is threatened.
According to this observatory, Al Assad was hospitalized in critical condition in September after suffering suspected poisoning. He spent nine days in a hospital near Moscow before being released on September 29.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied this information. “We granted asylum to Bashar al-Assad and his family on purely humanitarian grounds. He has no problem with his stay in our capital. Did not suffer poisoning. “If these rumors break out, they remain on the conscience of those who spread them,” he said.
In reality, Vladimir Putin’s government prefers not to talk about Al Assad. “We cannot share any information about this”» declared Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov a few days ago when asked about the Assads’ life in Moscow.
Some information speaks of the new Syrian president would have requested the surrender of Al Assad to Damascusan extreme that has not been confirmed by any official source. If this had really been the case, Russia would have refused to hand it over. The Kremlin claims that Putin personally granted him asylum and that it would not undergo any modification.
Al Assad’s wife’s cancer
Asma, the former dictator’s wife, has British nationality although her passport has expired. She certainly has health problems, but these are not due to her asylum status. She battled breast cancer for years and in 2019, she was declared cancer-free. But in May 2024, it was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemiaas announced by the Syrian presidency.
End of December 2024, The telegraph reported that doctors gave Asma a 50% chance of survival. According to sources cited by the British newspaper, Al Assad’s wife She lives isolated in a Moscow hospital.
Part of the family circle and friends of the Asad clan hides between the United Arab Emirates and Lebanoneven if some of them were arrested, especially those who remained in Syria, reports Efe. Rami Makhlouf, cousin of Al Asad, announced the formation of a militia in the context of sectarian violence against the Alawite minority (branch of Shiite Islam professed by the Al Asad family) triggered in March in the Syrian coastal area. But there has been no news of any of this.
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