What awaits Assad and his family next?
Bashar al-Assad’s ouster on Sunday ended not only his 24-year presidency but also his family’s more than 50-year rule of Syria. Latest situation for Assad and his family
Before Assad came to power in 2000, his late father, Hafez Assad, had been president for three decades.
With rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forming a transitional government, the future of the ousted president, his wife and their three children remains uncertain.
They are currently in Russia and have been granted asylum, but what awaits them in the future?
Why did Assad flee to Russia?
Russia was a staunch ally of Assad during the Syrian civil war and maintains two major military bases in the Middle Eastern country.
The air operation launched by Russia in 2015 in support of Assad turned the course of the war in favor of the government.
A UK-based monitoring group reported that more than 21,000 people, including 8,700 civilians, were killed in Russian military operations over the next nine years.
But Russia, preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, was unwilling or unable to help Assad’s government in stopping sudden attacks by the rebels that began in late November.
A few hours after opposition forces took control of Damascus, Russian state media reported that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow and that they would be granted asylum on “humanitarian grounds”.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked by reporters on Monday about Assad’s whereabouts and asylum request, said: “I have nothing to tell you… at the moment. Of course, such a decision [granting asylum] cannot be made without the head of state. This is his It is the decision.” he said.
The Assads’ connections to Russia, especially Moscow, are well documented.
An investigation by the Financial Times in 2019 revealed that Assad’s extended family purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the Russian capital Moscow in order to prevent tens of millions of dollars from entering Syria during the civil war.
Meanwhile, Assad’s eldest son Hafez is also a doctoral student in the city. A local newspaper published a story about 22-year-old Hafez’s doctoral thesis last week.
Amid the chaos over the weekend, Russian state television reported that officials in Moscow were holding talks with the “Syrian armed opposition” to secure Russia’s bases and diplomatic missions.
Who are Assad’s wife and children?
Assad is married to Esma, a British and Syrian citizen, who was born and raised in West London as the daughter of Syrian parents.
He attended school and university in London before becoming an investment banker.
Asma moved to Syria full-time in 2000 and married Assad, who was elected president to succeed her father.
Working as a visiting researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Dr. Nesrin Alrefaai said in her statement that Asma “has a British passport and therefore can return to England instead of staying in Russia.”
“However, the United States imposed sanctions on his father, Dr. Fawaz al-Akhras, who is reported to be in Russia,” he said; This means Asma may want to stay in Moscow for now.
According to Mail Online, neighbors said that Asma’s father, a cardiologist, and her mother, Sahar, a retired diplomat, wanted to be in Moscow to “console” their daughter and son-in-law.
Assad and his wife have three children: PhD student Hafiz, Zein and Karim.
A 2022 report to Congress by the US State Department stated that the net worth of the extended Assad family was between $1bn (£790m) and $2bn (£1.6bn), although their assets were held in “numerous accounts, real estate It is stated that it is difficult to make an estimate because it is believed to be scattered and hidden in the portfolio, company and tax havens.
The report states that Bashar and Asma “maintain close clientelistic relations with Syria’s largest economic actors, using their companies to launder money from illegal activities and transfer money to the regime.”
It was also stated that Asma “exerts influence on the economic committee that manages Syria’s ongoing economic crisis” and makes important decisions regarding Syria’s “food and fuel subsidies, trade and foreign exchange issues”.
He also had influence over the Syrian Development Foundation, through which most foreign aid for reconstruction in regime-controlled areas was channeled.
In 2020, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that Asma had become “one of Syria’s most notorious war opportunists” with the help of her husband and family.
A senior Trump administration official described him as the “family business leader” and an “oligarch” competing with Bashar’s cousin, Rami Maklouf.
Can Assad be tried?
Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said that following the overthrow of the Assad dynasty, Syrians had been subjected to “a horrific catalog of human rights violations that have resulted in untold human suffering on a massive scale”.
These include “attacks with chemical weapons, barrel bombs and other war crimes, as well as acts of murder, torture, enforced disappearance and destruction that constitute crimes against humanity.”
He called on the international community to ensure that persons suspected of violating international law and other serious human rights violations are investigated and prosecuted for their crimes.
The Islamist rebel leader in Syria said on Tuesday that he would release the names of any senior officials of the ousted regime found to have tortured political prisoners.
Abu Muhammad al-Julani also said that his Syrian Salvation Government will try to detect and send back the officials who fled to another country.
Investigating judges in France requested an arrest warrant for Assad, under universal jurisdiction, for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the deadly chemical attack in Syria in 2013.
Russia does not extradite its own citizens; This is a legal process that involves sending a person to another country or state to be tried for a suspected crime.