A lightning anti-regime offensive early this month caught Syria’s ruling clan off guard.
Baath regime chief Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia on December 8, abandoning a lot of his collaborators, a few of whom sought refuge in neighbouring international locations.
According to 2 sources, the ousted chief, who fled to Moscow by way of the Russian army airfield in Hmeimim on Syria’s coast, was accompanied by solely a handful of confidants.
Among them had been his closet ally, the secretary-general of presidential affairs Mansour Azzam, in addition to his financial adviser Yassar Ibrahim, who oversees the monetary empire of Assad and his spouse, Asma.
“He left with his secretary and his treasurer,” an insider who requested anonymity stated, mockingly.
Bashar’s brother, Maher al-Assad, commander of the elite Fourth Division tasked with defending Damascus, didn’t find out about his sibling’s plans.
Leaving his males stranded, Maher took a separate route, fleeing by helicopter to Iraq earlier than travelling to Russia, in line with a Syrian army supply.
An Iraqi safety supply instructed AFP that Maher arrived in Iraq by aircraft on December 7 and stayed there for 5 days.
Maher’s spouse, Manal al-Jadaan and his son briefly entered Lebanon earlier than departing by Beirut airport, stated Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, with out disclosing their closing vacation spot.
Another Assad authorities heavyweight, Ali Mamlouk, the previous chief of Syria’s safety equipment, fled to Russia by way of Iraq, stated a Syrian army supply.
His son handed by Lebanon earlier than leaving for one more vacation spot, in line with a Lebanese safety supply.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry denied on Monday the presence of both Maher al-Assad or Mamlouk in Iraq.
Both are needed males.
Maher — and Bashar al-Assad — are needed by France for alleged complicity in warfare crimes over chemical assaults in Syria in August 2013.
The French courts have already sentenced Mamlouk and Jamil Hassan, former head of Syria’s Air Force Intelligence, in absentia to life imprisonment for complicity in crimes towards humanity and warfare crimes.
On Friday, the Lebanese authorities obtained an Interpol alert relaying a US request to arrest Hassan and hand him over to the US authorities, ought to he enter the nation.
The United States accuses Hassan of “war crimes”, together with overseeing barrel bomb assaults on Syrian folks that killed 1000’s of civilians.
A Lebanese judicial supply instructed AFP that that they had no affirmation of Hassan’s presence in Lebanon, however assured that he could be detained if discovered.
Other outstanding figures additionally made hasty escapes.
Bouthaina Shaaban, former translator for Hafez al-Assad — Bashar’s father who based the brutal system of presidency his son inherited — fled to Lebanon on the evening of December 7-8.
Shaaban, Bashar al-Assad’s long-time political adviser, then travelled to Abu Dhabi, in line with a buddy in Beirut.
Kifah Mujahid, head of the Baath Brigades — the army wing of Syria’s former ruling celebration — escaped to Lebanon by boat, a celebration supply instructed AFP.
Other officers took refuge of their hometowns in Alawite areas, a few of them instructed AFP. Assad hailed from Syria’s Alawite minority.
Not all escape makes an attempt had been profitable.
Ihab Makhlouf, Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and a outstanding businessman, was killed on December 7 whereas making an attempt to flee Damascus.
His twin brother, Iyad, was injured in the identical incident, stated a army official from the previous authorities.
Their elder sibling, Rami Makhlouf, as soon as thought of Syria’s richest man and an emblem of the regime’s corruption, managed to outlive. Rami, who fell out of favour with the Assad regime years in the past, is believed to be within the United Arab Emirates.
Several different figures near Assad’s authorities crossed into Lebanon, in line with a safety supply and a supply within the business world. These included Ghassan Belal, head of Maher’s workplace, and businessmen Mohammed Hamsho, Khalid Qaddur, Samer Debs and Samir Hassan.
A former Lebanese minister with shut ties to Syria stated that a number of senior Syrian army officers had been granted protected passage by the Russians to the Hmeimim airbase.
They had been rewarded for instructing their troops not to withstand the insurgent offensive to be able to keep away from additional bloodshed, he stated.
Source: www.anews.com.tr