President Assad, his British wife and their three adult children have left behind their Syrian palaces and will begin a new life in Russia after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.
Asma Al-Assad, a London-born doctor’s daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has become accustomed to a life of luxury, with reports that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on home furnishings and clothes during her husband’s reign of terror.
The US state department estimates that the family are worth $2billion, with their wealth concealed in numerous accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
Now they are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of keeping up their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia’s status as a safe haven for the clan.
The Kremlin today confirmed that the family was given asylum on the direct orders of Putin. Moscow disclosed no further details, with presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters today: ‘We have nothing to say about Assad’s whereabouts.’
Mrs Assad, who has been battling an aggressive form of leukaemia, is widely believed to have arrived in Moscow with her daughter and two sons days before her husband finally fled Syria.
Secret tunnels beneath an Assad family mansion were reportedly uncovered after rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a possible escape route for the dictator and his allies.
Meanwhile reports have suggested that Assad could have fled via Russia’s Khmeimim airbase, with flight trackers reportedly showing a Russian plane taking off from near the north-eastern city of Latakia just hours before he was reported to be in Moscow.
Assad’s extended family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
A picture shows the inside of an apartment in Moscow’s City of Capitals complex, where members of Assad’s family reportedly own property (illustrative picture shows an apartment in the building)
Pictures of apartments in the complex show luxury fittings and high-end furnishings, as well as panoramic views of Moscow (illustrative picture shows an apartment in the building)
The Assads, their daughter daughter Zein and son Karim will now all be in Russia with Hafez
Asma Al-Assad, a London-born doctor’s daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has become accustomed to a life of luxury
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria is widely seen as being a major embarrassment for Putin
The unopposed takeover of the Syrian capital after a lightning offensive by rebel groups on Sunday brought to an end a 13-year civil war and six decades of the Assad family’s autocratic rule.
It has also been deeply embarrassing for Putin, after Moscow pumped military and financial aid into his government and bombed Syria for years to help prop up the Assad regime.
Russian media yesterday quoted an unnamed source in the Kremlin as saying: ‘Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia, based on humanitarian considerations, has granted them asylum.’
The family – including sons Hafez and Karim, aged 24 and 21, and 22-year-old daughter Zein – are now expected to move their lives to Russia, though it is unclear whether they will live in a private property or be forced to stay in a government safehouse.
Whatever the case, they are likely to expect some level of luxury given their previous living conditions and inordinate wealth.
In 2012, Wikileaks disclosed Mrs Assad’s private correspondence, which showed that she spent $350,000 on the palace’s furnishings and $7,000 on crystal-encrusted shoes.
Assad’s relatives the Makhloufs, headed by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, have long been considered Syria’s second wealthiest and most important family after his and have significant assets in Russia.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district, according to the FT.
The two-towered skyscraper – which until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 was Europe’s tallest building – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.
Pictured: A luxury apartment in the City of Capitals complex in Moscow. The two-towered skyscraper is Russia’s eighth-tallest building (illustrative picture shows an apartment in the building)
Assad’s relatives the Makhlouf family, headed by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, reportedly bought up 18 flats in the City of Capitals complex (illustrative picture shows an apartment in the building)
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured)
The two-towered skyscraper is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies
The ostentatious building could now become home to the Assads as they begin a new life in exile.
Pictures of apartments in the complex show luxury fittings and high-end furnishings, as well as panoramic views of Moscow.
The Assad family have strong personal ties to the Russian capital, with the ousted president’s eldest son a PhD candidate at Moscow State University.
Hafez al-Assad, who is in his 20s, defended his dissertation at MSU and became a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, Russian media reports.
The defense reportedly took place on November 29 – during the offensive of Syrian rebels on the second largest city of Syria, Aleppo.
It is possible that Assad could have been on an unannounced visit to Moscow at the time. The Kremlin refused to comment on whether he or his wife had visited the country.
Mrs Assad previously attended her son’s graduation in June 2023, with pictures showing her hugging him in front of MSU’s main building and meeting with university officials.
Hafez al-Assad’s work is written in Russian and is 98 pages long. It is devoted to analytical and algebraic number theory, namely issues of polynomials.
At the end of the dissertation, Al-Assad expressed gratitude ‘to the martyrs of his homeland – Syria – and first of all to the martyrs of the Syrian Arab Army.’
He also expressed gratitude to his parents, Bashar and Asma, to the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy, to the university staff, and to teachers and lecturers from Syria.
The Assad family’s secret escape tunnels have been revealed after Syrian rebels were left stunned by the huge luxury underground network
A video claiming to show Major General Maher al-Assad’s ‘mansion’ shows the tunnels
Russian news agencies last night cited an unidentified Kremlin source on Sunday as saying Assad was in Moscow with his family.
‘Such decisions cannot be made without the head of state. This is his decision,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today, without giving any further details on Assad’s movements.
Assad’s departure removes a bastion from which Iran and Russia wielded power across the Middle East.
Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, sided with the Soviet Union to try to achieve parity with U.S.-backed Israel.
The Kremlin said Syria was subject to ‘extreme instability’ and it was too early to speak about the future of Russian bases in the country.
‘We are in dialogue with Ankara and other regional states, including on Syrian affairs,’ Peskov said.
‘Indeed, Syria is going to have a very difficult period now, due to instability. And, of course, it is very important to maintain a dialogue with all regional countries here. We are determined to do this.’
It is unclear how Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that led the rebels’ advance, will view Russia’s military facilities in Syria – the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia province and a naval facility at Tartous on the coast.
The Syrian Embassy in Moscow last night as the Baath Party regime flag is removed following collapse of sixty-one years of its rule in Syria
The Syrian opposition flag flies at the Syrian embassy building in Moscow after being raised on Monday
‘It’s premature to talk about it yet,’ Peskov said. ‘This is all a subject for discussion with those who will be in power in Syria.’
‘Of course, everything is being done now that is necessary and everything that is possible in order to get in touch with those who can deal with security. And, of course, our military is also taking all necessary precautions,’ Peskov said.
The Tartous facility is Russia’s only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly military contractors in and out of Africa.
Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognising its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.
‘We see the situation around Ukraine, we see many contradictory statements in this regard, we see a growing conflict potential in other regions, we can say the burning Middle East,’ Peskov said.
At the Syrian Embassy in Moscow this morning, a group of men raised the opposition flag – replacing the banner of the Baath regime after 61 years of it ruling the country.
An embassy representative told TASS state news agency: ‘Today the embassy opened and is working normally under a new flag.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
