More than two weeks after the flight of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow, uncertainty continues to surround the exact circumstances of the unexpected and rapid collapse of his regime. Investigations published in French and American newspapers, notably Le Figaro and the Washington Postargue that the Syrian dictator fled without warning his family members or close collaborators. This would go against his only communication since his fall.
3 mins
With our regional correspondent, Paul Khalifeh
If information is missing about the last hours of Bashar al-Assad before his flight from Damascus, on the night of December 7 to 8, one thing is certain: Bashar el-Assad was no longer in Damascus on the morning of Sunday December 8. This unlike what he says in the only press release he published after the fall of his regimeon December 16 on the Facebook page of the presidency of the Syrian Republic.
Regime and opposition circles assure that the former Syrian president hastily left his home on Saturday, December 7, shortly before midnight. This towards the Mazzé military airport, in the capital, then the Russian base of Hmeimimin Latakia, aboard a Russian plane.
Bashar el-Assad was accompanied by his eldest son Hafez, the secretary general of the presidency, Azzam Mansour and a small handful of faithful. His brother Maher el-Assad, who led the largest division of the Republican Guard, other members of his family and his close entourage were not warned of his intentions.
It was only before dawn on Sunday that the regime’s senior security and political officials realized that their leader had abandoned the ship without even warning them. Everyone then did what they could to slip through the cracks of the net that the rebels were beginning to set up around Damascus.
Some fled by road to Latakia, where they allegedly paid Russian officers to board planes bound for Moscow. Others briefly transited through the Lebanon for the United Arab Emirateslike presidential advisor Bouthaina Chaabane, or Egypt.
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A ” evaporation » of the army resulting from poor pay, demoralization and piracy
Some observers use the term ” evaporation » of the Syrian army. To explain this debaclewhich surprised even the rebels, a combination of factors explains the collapse of the army which numbered nearly 200,000 men. The Syrian troops, mainly composed of conscripts, were demoralized and demotivated. Soldiers received a pay of 17 dollars per month and officers 50 dollars. The soldiers were poorly fed.
Reliable information ensures that the army’s communications system was hacked. During the battle of Hama, in the center of the country, on December 4, the units holding the front received orders to withdraw which appeared to emanate from the general staff.
This withdrawal, in the middle of a battle, caused a vast movement of disorder which led to a domino effect. Chief of Staff Abdel Karim Ibrahim went to the front to try to stop the ongoing disintegration. But it was already too late.
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