Omar knew one thing was up round 5am, when he heard cries of “Allahu Akbar” coming from the route of the Assad household residences.
He was at residence, following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s authorities on-line, however he hadn’t anticipated the rebels to succeed in central Damascus so rapidly.
“I instantly rushed in the direction of Assad’s home. I needed to see for myself that he was gone,” Omar tells Middle East Eye, crunching over damaged glass as he retraces his footsteps from Saturday evening. “My ft took me right here, not my mind.”
Omar, who like many Syrians nonetheless has an institutional worry of talking freely and wished to make use of a pseudonym, says the very first thing he observed was the scent. “It was a presidential scent,” he says.
Occasionally it nonetheless rises from the corners of this multi-story villa within the Malki neighbourhood of the Syrian capital, a musty cedar.
New MEE e-newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign as much as get the newest insights and evaluation on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and different MEE newsletters
Now the whole lot is a large number. Any bits of hardwood furnishings that haven’t been looted are mendacity in items. There are French and Italian magazines strewn throughout the flooring, in addition to horror motion pictures on DVD and household images. Loads of household images.
Torn out of albums are photos of Bashar as a child, his brother Basel – the inheritor to the throne who died in a automotive crash aged 31 – at an equestrian occasion and their father Hafez: austere, suited and surrounded by his sons.
Hafez al-Assad, the late founding father of the newly toppled 54-year ruling dynasty, lived right here, and the place has a distinctly Nineteen Seventies really feel.
The library is effectively stocked with volumes celebrating the Assad household’s deeds: development work, statements towards Israel and supposed presents to the Syrian folks.
Elsewhere is a file labelled “prime secret” containing particulars of Hafez’s workers. On a desk, rebels have laid out the entrance web page of a newspaper from the day Bashar al-Assad got here to energy in 2000.
Omar remembers coming into the corridor and seeing a big portray of Bashar on the wall in entrance of him. “That bastard, that son of a bitch. I tore it down.”
He was one in all only a handful of civilians to go in. Everyone else have been insurgent fighters, firing their weapons and shouting “Syria is free”. “Honestly, it was terrifying,” Omar admits, although he pressed on inside.
He observed folks coming down the steps carrying heaps of garments from the bedrooms. “There was each form of shoe you’ll be able to think about, Nike, Adidas, the whole lot.”
He picked up a number of jackets for himself. “I ought to burn them however it’s arduous – they’re very good.”
Designer items and Russian books
Today the Assad household’s bedrooms are a graveyard of designer garments packing containers. Chanel right here, Givenchy there, and a big package deal from Aishti, the upmarket Lebanese division retailer.
“We additionally discovered presents from different presidents, together with a chunk of the kiswa,” Omar says, referring to the material used to cowl the Kaaba in Mecca, although he’s undecided what occurred to that in the long run.
Stairs all the way down to the basement reveal a community of tunnels. One is labelled as main west, one other east.
And a 3rd takes you to the neighbouring home, one thing somewhat extra fashionable, with wrought iron sculptures suspended from the ceiling and full-length home windows drawing in gentle from the gardens.
This seems to have been the place Assad’s youngsters lived. Maths puzzles are traced alongside the strains of train books.
A certificates from the World Robot Olympiad declares that Bashar’s son Karim al-Assad, now 19, attended a robotics coaching programme. Hafez junior, the 23-year-old who was destined to inherit the presidency at the start fell aside, stares out of a category {photograph}.
“They had a small piece of heaven whereas everybody starved,” Omar says.
Next door to this home is a constructing the place Russian diplomats stayed. They have lengthy gone, however two plump gray cats greet anybody coming by means of the doorway, nuzzling packing containers of ammunition.
Abu Jassim, a fighter who has made the hallway his bed room, says the rebels feed the deserted cats, however haven’t named them but.
The Syrian rebels promised Russia they’d shield its embassy and army bases. Many recordsdata stay of their cupboards, however bookshelves labelled “Russian literature” and “overseas classics” have been emptied.
On the ground above are the personal residences, the place it seems Russian diplomats loved Bailey’s Irish Cream from shot glasses with “Ukraine” written on them. A swimming pool lies empty on the roof.
Ghosts and riches
Assad had so many villas and palaces in Damascus that he may have stayed in a brand new one day by day of the week.
Tishreen Palace, an unlimited complicated on the foot of Mount Qasioun, is eerily quiet. Clearly not quite a bit was occurring right here earlier than insurgent forces charged out of Idlib province on 27 November, an offensive that prompted the Syrian military and authorities to dissolve in every week and a half.
Most of the furnishings and lighting are enveloped by plastic wrapping. Few overseas dignitaries have visited Damascus over the previous 14 years, so there was no need to indicate off the chandeliers and antiquities that line the palace’s broad halls.
And in addition to, Assad most popular the newer Presidential Palace overlooking the capital from Mount Mezzeh, the place rebels flip the curious away on the gates.
Al-Muhajireen Palace, nonetheless, has develop into a vacationer attraction.
Abu Jihad, a 20-year-old insurgent fighter from Hama, seized the Ottoman palace on Saturday evening, hours after taking Homs, Syria’s third metropolis 150km to the north.
“All the guards had run away, their weapons and uniforms have been on the ground,” he tells MEE.
Now Abu Jihad is the one guarding the palace’s entrance, ushering households in to go searching the house of Muhammad al-Abid, who served 4 years (1932-1936) as president through the French Mandate.
Climbing the steps as much as the villa named after the immigrants from Crete who settled within the space in the direction of the top of the nineteenth century, Abu Jihad describes how he entered on Saturday evening to seek out it near-empty. Local residents had acquired there first.
Feras, a 45-year-old dentist, is taking photos of his spouse sitting in an ornate chair.
“I by no means anticipated to seek out this degree of luxurious in Assad’s palaces,” he says. “But it doesn’t make me indignant. It simply exposes how he was a thief whereas we have been poor.”
