As opposition forces superior on Damascus, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad covertly evacuated money, valuables, delicate paperwork, and shut associates to the United Arab Emirates aboard 4 personal jet flights organized by his prime financial adviser, Yasar Ibrahim, in response to an in depth account compiled by Reuters from over a dozen sources.
Ibrahim, who ran the financial and monetary workplace of the presidency, was instrumental in making a community of entities Assad used to regulate swathes of Syria’s economic system, usually appearing as a entrance for the previous ruler, in response to U.S. sanctions notices, in addition to consultants on Syria’s economic system and one supply inside Assad’s business community. Western nations imposed sanctions on Assad following his repression of the 2011 pro-democracy protests and afterward Ibrahim for aiding the regime.
The Embraer Legacy 600 jet made the 4 back-to-back journeys to Syria within the 48 hours earlier than the regime’s fall, in response to a Reuters overview of flight monitoring data. The aircraft, which has the tail quantity C5-SKY, is registered in Gambia. The fourth flight departed on Dec. 8 from the Russian-operated Hmeimim army air base, close to Latakia, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, in response to flight monitoring data, a satellite tv for pc picture and a former Air Force Intelligence supply with direct data of the operation. Assad fled to Russia on the identical day from the identical base.
The operation to extract Assad’s property from Syria has not been beforehand reported. Reuters spoke to 14 Syrian sources with data of the scheme, together with airport employees, former intelligence and Presidential Guard officers and an individual inside Assad’s business community.
The news company additionally reviewed a WhatsApp dialog between Ibrahim’s associates, flight monitoring information, satellite tv for pc pictures, and company and aviation possession registers on three continents to assemble its account of how Assad’s closest confidant orchestrated protected passage for the aircraft.
The jet carried unmarked black luggage of money holding a minimum of $500,000 in addition to paperwork, laptops and exhausting drives with key intelligence about “The Group”, the codename Assad and Ibrahim’s associates used for the intricate community of entities spanning telecoms, banking, actual property, power and different actions, in response to the person inside Assad’s community, a former Air Force Intelligence officer and the WhatsApp dialog.
Assad, whose whereabouts had been stored secret from even shut relations within the final frantic days of his regime, has been granted political asylum in Russia. Reuters was unable to achieve him or Ibrahim for remark. The Foreign Ministries of Russia and the UAE did not reply to questions in regards to the operation.
The authorities of the brand new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is decided to get well public funds taken overseas within the run-up to Assad’s fall, a senior official advised Reuters, to help Syria’s economic system because it labors underneath sanctions and a forex scarcity.
The official confirmed to Reuters that cash was smuggled in another country earlier than the previous ruler’s ouster, however didn’t elaborate how, including that authorities had been nonetheless figuring out the place the cash went.
Reuters couldn’t independently decide whether or not Assad actively directed the escape operation. Several sources with direct data of the mission stated it couldn’t have occurred with out the ruler’s blessing.
‘You’ve not seen this aircraft’
On Dec. 6, as rebels led by the anti-regime group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marched towards the capital, the 13-seater Embraer jet approached Damascus International Airport.
More than a dozen employees within the camouflage uniforms of Syria’s Air Force Intelligence – a principal instrument of political repression underneath Assad – mobilized to protect the Hall of Ceremonies, the airport’s VIP part, and its entry route, in response to six sources with data of the operation. Four of those sources stated they had been on the scene.
A handful of civilian vehicles with tinted home windows approached the world, three of the folks on website stated. The vehicles belonged to the elite Republican Guard, tasked to guard Assad and the Presidential Palace, stated two of the folks on website – the previous intelligence officer and a senior airport official.
The involvement of the Republican Guard meant that “Bashar (Assad) gave the orders” referring to the operation, in response to a former senior Republican Guard member. The guard answered solely to its commander, Assad’s cousin General Talal Makhlouf, or Assad himself, this particular person added.
The head of airport safety, Brig. Gen. Ghadeer Ali, advised airport employees that Air Force Intelligence personnel would deal with the plane, in response to Mohammed Qairout, head of floor operations with Syrian Air.
“This plane is coming to land and we will deal with it,” Qairout recalled being advised by Ali. “You have not seen this plane.”
Ali, a senior Air Force Intelligence officer, took orders instantly from the Presidential Palace, three Syrian airport officers and the previous intelligence officer stated.
Reuters couldn’t attain Ali for remark.
Final hours
The C5-SKY aircraft flew every time to Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Executive Airport, utilized by dignitaries and identified for its strict privateness, Flightradar24 information present. At first, the jet left Dubai on Dec. 6 and landed in Damascus round midday native time (9 a.m. GMT). It then flew to Al Bateen airport and was again in Damascus simply after 10 p.m.
Each time it landed, “cars rushed towards the plane, staying for a short time and then leaving just before the plane took off again,” stated certainly one of 5 sources working on the airport.
Ali advised Air Force Intelligence employees that Presidential Palace personnel and relations of Assad, together with youngsters, had been as a consequence of board the primary two flights that left Damascus on December 6, which additionally carried money, in response to the previous intelligence officer on the scene.
Reuters couldn’t entry a manifest for the 4 flights to substantiate the aircraft’s passengers or cargo.
The second flight from Damascus additionally transported work and a few small sculptures, stated the identical supply.
On Dec. 7, the jet was again in Damascus round 4 p.m. and left for Al Bateen for a 3rd time over an hour later, this time loaded with luggage of money in addition to exhausting drives and digital units containing details about Assad’s company community, in response to the intelligence officer and the supply inside Assad’s business community.
The saved info included monetary data, minutes of conferences, possession of corporations, actual property and partnerships, in addition to particulars of money transfers and offshore corporations and accounts, this supply stated.
This time, autos belonging to the UAE embassy in Damascus approached the VIP airport space earlier than the jet took off, stated the previous intelligence officer, which he stated steered the UAE was conscious of the operation.
Detour to Russian base
Early on Dec. 8, insurgent fighters reached Damascus, prompting Assad to flee to his coastal stronghold of Latakia, in coordination with Russian forces. Damascus airport stopped working.
Shortly after midnight that day, the C5-SKY jet left Al Bateen one final time. After passing over town of Homs, north of Damascus, at round 3 a.m. native time, the aircraft dropped off flight monitoring protection for about six hours earlier than reappearing over Homs, headed again to Abu Dhabi, information from Flightradar24 exhibits.
During that window, it landed on the Hmeimim base within the Latakia province, in response to the previous intelligence officer.
A satellite tv for pc picture taken at 9:11 a.m. by Planet Labs captured the aircraft on the runway at Hmeimim. Reuters was capable of verify the Embraer jet within the picture was C5-SKY primarily based on the dimensions and form and flight monitoring information. The jet was the one personal aircraft flying out and in of Syria between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, flight monitoring information present.
Aboard the flight from Hmeimim was Ahmed Khalil Khalil, a detailed affiliate of Ibrahim lively inside Assad’s community, in response to the Air Force Intelligence officer, the supply inside Assad’s business empire and the WhatsApp dialog. Khalil is underneath Western sanctions for supporting the previous regime by working and controlling a number of companies in Syria.
He had reached the Russian base in an Emirati embassy armored automobile and was carrying $500,000 in money, in response to the particular person inside Assad’s community and the WhatsApp messages.
Khalil had withdrawn the cash two days earlier from an account with the Syria International Islamic Bank (SIIB), in response to the identical sources.
The particular person inside Assad’s circle stated the account belongs to Damascus-based Al-Burj Investments. The firm is 50% owned by Ibrahim, in response to The Syria Report, an internet platform that incorporates a company database compiled by Syria consultants, which cited 2018 official Syrian data.
Khalil didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched through his Facebook account. SIIB and Al-Burj didn’t reply to emails looking for remark.
The particular person inside Assad’s business circle and a former official at Syria’s Air Transport Authority stated the Embraer jet was working underneath a ‘dry lease’, by which the proprietor supplies the plane, however no crew, pilot, upkeep, floor operations, or insurance coverage.
Reuters couldn’t decide who operated the flights.
Ibrahim reached Abu Dhabi on Dec. 11, this particular person added.
Asked in regards to the aircraft in an interview with Reuters, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa declined to remark.
‘The Lebanese aircraft’
Ibrahim leased the jet from Lebanese businessman Mohamad Wehbe, in response to a member of Syria’s business elite and the supply inside Assad’s community. In the WhatsApp dialog, the jet was described by certainly one of Ibrahim’s associates as “the Lebanese plane”.
In April 2024, Mohamad Wehbe posted photos of C5-SKY on LinkedIn with the caption, “welcome”. In January, the businessman wrote in a separate LinkedIn submit that the plane was on the market. The aircraft was registered in Gambia to an area firm, Flying Airline Company, from April 2024. Flight monitoring data present that, within the months previous Assad’s fall, the plane had flown to Assad’s ally Russia, presently underneath Western aviation sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters was unable to achieve the registered contact for Flying Airline Company in Gambia, Sheikh Tijan Jallow.
Flying Airline Co. is 30%-owned by one other Lebanese nationwide, Oussama Wehbe, and 70%-owned by Iraqi nationwide Safa Ahmed Saleh, as per Gambian data.
Social media exhibits Mohamad Wehbe has a son named Oussama who additionally works within the aviation business. Reuters couldn’t verify if he is identical man on the Gambian registry.
Contacted by Reuters, Mohamad Wehbe denied any involvement with the C5-SKY flights out and in of Syria and advised Reuters he doesn’t personal the aircraft however merely rents it “sometimes” from a dealer, whose title he declined to offer. He didn’t reply to questions on whether or not his son was concerned.
Oussama Wehbe didn’t reply to a request for remark. Reuters couldn’t find Safa Ahmed Saleh.
Source: www.dailysabah.com