Russia urged Assad to flee Syria and organized his escape — Bloomberg

The Russian authorities convinced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he would lose the war against the opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and offered to evacuate him safely if he left Syria immediately, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing three sources.

Assad’s escape was organized by Russian intelligence officers, two of the outlet’s sources said. According to them, the former president was flown out from Russian airbase in Syria. One source noted that the transponder on the plane carrying Assad was turned off to avoid tracking.

Now, according to one source close to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin is “demanding” an explanation for why Russian intelligence services failed to detect the growing threat to Assad’s regime until it was too late.

Bloomberg noted that Russian forces in Syria initially carried out strikes against the then-rebels, aiming to push them back and bolster Assad’s forces. However, since Syrian government troops “offered little resistance” and the rebels, having captured Aleppo and Hama, began advancing on the city of Homs, Russia concluded it could not protect Assad’s regime, one source said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Bloombergs request for comment.