President Assad, his British-born wife and their three adult children have left their Syrian palaces behind and will start a new life in Russia after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.
Asma Al-Assad, the London-born doctor’s daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has grown accustomed to a life of luxury, with reports of her spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on home furnishings and clothing during her husband’s reign of terror.
The US State Department estimates the family is worth $2 billion, with their wealth hidden in countless accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
Now they are likely to rely on their family ties and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of continuing their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family has 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 confirmed today that the family had been granted asylum on Putin’s direct orders. Moscow did not reveal any further details, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters today: “We have nothing to say about Assad’s whereabouts.”
It is widely believed that Mrs. Assad, who is battling an aggressive form of leukemia, arrived in Moscow with her daughter and two sons days before her husband eventually fled Syria.
Secret tunnels under an Assad family mansion have reportedly been discovered after rebels took the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a possible escape route for the dictator and his allies.
Meanwhile, reports have suggested Assad could have fled via Russia’s Khmeimim airbase, with flight trackers reportedly showing a Russian plane taking off from near the northeastern city of Latakia just hours before he was said to be in Moscow.
Assad’s extended family has reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
Asma Al-Assad, the London-born doctor’s daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has grown 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 a great embarrassment for Putin
The unhindered takeover of the Syrian capital after a lightning offensive by rebel groups on Sunday ended a 13-year civil war and 60 years of autocratic rule by the Assad family.
It was also deeply embarrassing for Putin, after years of Moscow pumping in military and financial aid and bombing Syria to help prop up the Assad regime.
Russian media yesterday quoted an unnamed Kremlin source as saying: ‘Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds.”
The Assad family has strong personal ties to the Russian capital, with the ousted president’s eldest son a PhD student at Moscow State University.
Hafez al-Assad, in his early twenties, defended his dissertation at MSU and became a candidate in natural and mathematical sciences, Russian media reported.
The defense reportedly took place on November 29 – during Syrian rebels’ offensive on Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo.
It is possible that Assad made an unannounced visit to Moscow at the time. The Kremlin declined to comment on whether he or his wife had visited the country.
Ms. Assad previously attended her son’s graduation ceremony in June 2023, with photos 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 consists of 98 pages. It is devoted to analytic and algebraic number theory, especially issues of polynomials.
At the end of his thesis, Al-Assad expressed his gratitude “to the martyrs of his homeland – Syria – and first of all to the martyrs of the Syrian Arab army.”
He also expressed his 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 daughter Zein, 21, and son Karim, 20 – are now likely to live in Russia with Hafez, although it is unclear whether they will live in a private property or be forced to live in a safe house of the government.
Be that as it may, they will likely expect a certain level of luxury given their past living conditions and excessive wealth.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family reportedly bought at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured).
The twin-tower skyscraper is home to some of Russia’s richest businessmen, ministries, five-star hotels and multinational corporations
In 2012, Wikileaks made public Ms. Assad’s private correspondence, revealing that she had spent $350,000 on palace furnishings and $7,000 on crystal-encrusted shoes.
Assad’s relatives, the Makhlouf family, led by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, have long been considered Syria’s second richest and most important after his own, with significant assets in Russia.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family reportedly bought at least eighteen luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.
The twin-tower skyscraper – which was Europe’s tallest building until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, ministries, five-star hotels and multinationals.
The ostentatious building could now become home to the Assads as they begin a new life in exile.
It comes after Syrian rebels looted the Assad family’s palaces and claimed on Sunday to have unveiled a network of secret escape tunnels.
A video purporting to show Major General Maher al-Assad’s “mansion” shows a white staircase carved into the floor spiraling underground into what appears to be a vast network of luxurious tunnels and bunkers.
The Assad family’s secret escape tunnels have been revealed after Syrian rebels were stunned by the vast luxury underground network
A video claiming to show Major General Maher al-Assad’s ‘mansion’ shows the tunnels
The footage, said to have been taken by a rebel, then breaks down to reveal a vast network of empty, wide tunnels with high, curved ceilings.
Maher al-Assad – the deposed president’s brother and known for his ruthlessness – holds a rank equivalent to major general and heads the Syrian army’s elite Fourth Division.
The video was captioned: ‘Huge tunnel complex under Maher Assad’s mansion, wide enough for trucks carrying Captagon and gold to drive through.’
Another claimed that the tunnels were ‘complete with ventilation, sitting rooms, bedrooms, locks and metal doors’.