As rebels superior towards the Syrian capital of Damascus on Dec. 7, the workers within the hilltop Presidential Palace ready for a speech they hoped would result in a peaceable finish to the 13-year civil battle.
Aides to President Bashar al-Assad had been brainstorming messaging concepts. A movie crew had arrange cameras and lights close by. Syria’s state-run tv station was able to broadcast the completed product: an tackle by Mr. al-Assad saying a plan to share energy with members of the political opposition, in keeping with three individuals who had been concerned within the preparation.
Working from the palace, Mr. al-Assad, who had wielded concern and drive to keep up his authoritarian rule over Syria for greater than twenty years, had betrayed no sense of alarm to his workers, in keeping with a palace insider whose workplace was close to the president’s.
The capital’s defenses had been bolstered, Mr. al-Assad’s aides had been advised, together with by the highly effective 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, led by the president’s brother Maher al-Assad, the insider mentioned.
They had all been deceived.
After nightfall, the president slipped out of the capital, flying covertly to a Russian army base in northern Syria after which on a Russian jet to Moscow, in keeping with six Middle Eastern authorities and safety officers.
Maher al-Assad fled individually that night with different senior army officers throughout the desert to Iraq, in keeping with two Iraqi officers. His present location stays unknown.
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