An extensive report published by The Atlantic details the final days of Bashar Assad’s presidency in Syria, alleging a life of detachment, sexual impropriety, and ultimately, a cowardly flight from Damascus as rebel forces closed in. The report claims Assad fled aboard a Russian aircraft in December 2024, leaving his supporters and regime to collapse.
Assad’s Final Days
According to the report, based on interviews with former senior officials in Assad’s regime, sources close to the presidential palace, and a former Israeli security official, Assad did not believe his rule would fall until the last hours before Damascus was captured by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who replaced him as president. As rebel forces neared the capital on December 7, 2024, Assad reportedly continued to reassure aides that victory was imminent.
Sources described Assad’s “betrayal” as “so cowardly and astonishing” that some initially struggled to believe he had abandoned them. Many fled the country by any means possible as celebratory gunfire erupted in Damascus.
Allegations of Personal Conduct
The Atlantic alleges that Assad’s close advisor, Luna al-Shibl, was also his lover and facilitated sexual encounters with other women, including the wives of senior Syrian officers. Robert Worth, the author of the article, based his reporting on conversations with dozens of people who staffed Assad’s palace, as well as the former Israeli official.
Worth portrays Assad as detached, obsessed with sex and video games, and ultimately unable to save his regime due to stubbornness and arrogance. He reportedly refused to accept offers of assistance from regional countries in the regime’s final days.
A Hollow Victory
The report links Assad’s obstinacy to a false sense of confidence following Russia’s military intervention in 2015, which restored his control over much of Syria. “That deceptive moment of victory…was when everything began to go wrong,” Worth writes, noting that Syria’s economy had collapsed and the country was heavily indebted to Russia and Iran.
Assad was particularly enamored with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, believing the “axis of resistance” would deliver a decisive blow against Israel, allowing him to dictate peace terms.
Loss of Trust and Final Flight
A former Israeli security official told Worth that by 2019, he began to worry that Assad, previously seen as hostile but manageable, had become unreliable. “The regime was an empty shell,” the official said.
Worth details how Assad spent much of his time playing video games while Syria became a “narco-state” reliant on the production and smuggling of the amphetamine Captagon, overseen by his brother Maher. He reportedly sidelined veterans of his father’s era in favor of a small circle of dubious figures, including al-Shibl.
According to sources, al-Shibl also procured other women for Assad. A recording revealed last December captured Assad and al-Shibl laughing dismissively at Syrians and mocking those who saluted them.
Al-Shibl died in a car accident in July 2024, with some reports suggesting she was murdered on orders from Tehran for providing information to Israel. Sources told Worth that Assad himself ordered her killing.
Abandonment and Exile
Worth’s sources say that in November 2024, as rebels advanced on Aleppo, Assad was in Russia for his son’s doctoral dissertation defense. He remained in Moscow even as Aleppo fell, hoping for Putin’s intervention, but was informed Russia could not save him.
On December 7, 2024, as foreign ministers attempted to negotiate a solution, Assad’s phone was switched off. He returned to his residence, ordered his staff to pack, and departed with a small group of Russians and his son Hafez, telling his driver, “Aren’t you going to fight?”
Assad is now reportedly living in Moscow with his family. Syria’s new government is demanding Russia extradite him in exchange for improved relations, despite Russia maintaining strategic military bases in Syria.
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