By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-09 11:31:48 | Updated at 2024-12-24 16:34:47
2 weeks ago
President Assad, his British-born 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 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
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 Assads, their daughter daughter Zein and son Karim will now all be in Russia with Hafez
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 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 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 early 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 family - including 21-year-old daughter Zein and son Karim, aged 20 - are now likely to live in Russia with Hafez, 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.
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
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 Makhlouf family, headed by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, have long been considered Syria's second wealthiest and most important 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 reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow's glittering skyscraper district.
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.
The ostentatious building could now become home to the Assads as they begin a new life in exile.
It comes after Syrian rebels ransacked the Assad family's palaces and claimed to have revealed a network of secret escape tunnels on Sunday.
A video claiming to show Major General Maher al-Assad's 'mansion' shows a white staircase cut into the floor, spiralling underground in what appears to be a huge network of luxury tunnels and bunkers.
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
The footage, said to have been snapped by a rebel, then cuts to show a vast network of empty, wide tunnels with tall, curved ceilings.
Maher al-Assad - who is the deposed President's brother and is known for his ruthlessness - holds a rank equivalent to major general and leads the elite Fourth Division of the Syrian army.
The video was captioned: 'Massive tunnel complex beneath Maher Assad's mansion, wide enough for trucks carrying Captagon and gold to drive through.'
Another claimed the tunnels were 'ready with ventilation, sitting rooms, bedrooms, locks and metal doors'.
