فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
In a shocking development that shook the foundations of the Syrian regime, high-level sources revealed to AFP that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus just hours before its fall on December 8, without notifying his family members or close aides.
According to the sources, Assad left Damascus for the Russian Hmeimim base in western Syria, from where he boarded a plane to Moscow. His brother Maher, commander of the Syrian Army’s Fourth Division, learned of the matter by chance while defending Damascus, prompting him to flee by helicopter, apparently towards Baghdad.
Events began to accelerate on November 27 when rebels launched an offensive in northern Syria. Assad was in Moscow at the time, where his wife Asma was receiving cancer treatment. Upon his return on November 30, Aleppo had already fallen.
In the following days, rebels took control of the cities of Hama and Homs in central Syria, before encircling Damascus a week later. On December 7, Assad did not meet with his officials, causing confusion in leadership and on the ground.
On the morning of December 8, a speech by Assad was planned but repeatedly postponed. At 9 PM, Assad called his political advisor Bouthaina Shaaban asking her to prepare a speech, but he did not answer her subsequent call.
Later that night, the Syrian army began burning its archives, and in the early hours of December 9, soldiers started fleeing Damascus in large numbers. One official described the scene as “frightening” with tens of thousands of cars leaving Damascus, while an even larger number of people were walking on foot.
Thus ended Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule, leaving behind a state in chaos and collapse, and a scene reflecting the end of an era in Syria’s contemporary history.
