Late on December 8, 2024, just after midnight, a clandestine gathering took place at the military part of Damascus International Airport. Dozens, clutching their hastily packed belongings, boarded a compact Syrian Air jet.
Merely an hour prior, these individuals were core members of one of the planet’s most ruthless regimes. Now, with President Bashar al-Assad’s sudden downfall and flight, they found themselves as desperate fugitives, rushing to escape with their families.
Among the desperate passengers was Qahtan Khalil, the formidable director of Syria’s air force intelligence, who faced serious accusations for his direct role in one of the civil war’s most gruesome massacres, a conflict that had ravaged the nation for 13 years.
Accompanying him were Ali Abbas and Ali Ayyoub, both former defense ministers, each under sanctions for human rights abuses and the horrific atrocities committed throughout the conflict.
Also present was Abdul Karim Ibrahim, the military chief of staff, who was implicated in enabling widespread torture and sexual violence against the civilian population.
These high-profile regime figures, among others, were identified by an eyewitness passenger and two former officials privy to the details of the flight, who spoke to The New York Times.
As a swift rebel offensive closed in on the Syrian capital, Assad’s secret departure from Damascus earlier that night caught his inner circle off guard, marking the dramatic collapse of his regime.
His loyalists swiftly followed. Within mere hours, the fundamental structures of an oppressive system didn’t just crumble; they completely disappeared.
Some managed to secure flights, while others raced to their luxurious coastal villas, making a swift escape on high-speed boats.
Many slipped away in convoys of opulent cars, passing through newly established rebel checkpoints where they were unknowingly waved through. A select few sought refuge in the Russian Embassy, which then facilitated their journeys to Moscow, Assad’s crucial ally.
For the countless Syrians who endured the loss of loved ones, torture, imprisonment, or displacement under the Assad regime, their nation transformed into a vast crime scene from which the principal perpetrators had vanished without a trace.
Barely ten months after the regime’s collapse, a war-torn Syria faces not only the monumental challenge of reconstruction but also the formidable task of tracking down and prosecuting those responsible for some of the century’s most egregious state-sponsored crimes.
Former rebel combatants and Syria’s nascent government are employing various methods—from informants and digital intrusions to analyzing clues left in abandoned regime facilities—to locate these individuals. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Europe and the United States are actively pursuing or re-evaluating cases. Syrian civil society organizations and UN investigators diligently gather evidence and testimonies, all in preparation for a future where justice might finally prevail.
These individuals are among the world’s most elusive, many having held vast power for decades while remaining public unknowns. Their true identities, ages, and in some instances, even their faces, remained shrouded in secrecy.
This lack of reliable information has consistently resulted in inaccuracies across media reports, sanctions lists, and law enforcement databases, likely aiding some of the regime’s most infamous figures in eluding Syrian and European authorities since Assad’s downfall.
The Art of Vanishing
For months, a dedicated team of Times reporters has tirelessly worked to uncover the obscured roles and true identities of 55 high-ranking former government and military officials. These individuals, all listed on international sanctions, are intimately connected to the most lethal episodes in Syria’s recent past.
The extensive investigation encompassed everything from meticulous tracing of digital footprints and family social media activity to ransacking abandoned properties for old phone bills and credit card details.
Journalists conducted interviews with dozens of former regime officials, many of whom requested anonymity to ensure their safety. They also spoke with Syrian human rights lawyers, European law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, and members of the new Syrian government. Their work included visiting numerous abandoned villas and businesses tied to key regime figures and meticulously reconstructing several escape paths.
While the current locations of many of the 55 former officials who propped up Assad’s dictatorship remain a mystery, The Times has managed to track down a dozen, revealing their vastly different fates.
Assad himself is now in Russia, seemingly having severed ties with most of his former inner circle, according to accounts from ex-Syrian officials, relatives, and close associates.
Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s brother and the second most powerful man in regime-era Syria, is reportedly enjoying a lavish exile in Moscow, along with some of his former senior commanders, like Jamal Younes, as confirmed by ex-regime officials, business contacts, and video evidence authenticated by The Times.
Meanwhile, individuals like Ghiath Dalla, a brigadier general whose troops violently suppressed protests, are now reportedly orchestrating acts of sabotage from Lebanon. According to former military commanders who shared text message communications with The Times, Dalla is coordinating these efforts with other ex-regime leaders, including Suhail al-Hassan and Kamal al-Hassan, both operating from Moscow.
Intriguingly, some officials have managed to secure ambiguous agreements allowing them to stay in Syria, as reported by an ex-military commander and sources within the new government. Notably, Amr al-Armanazi, who once supervised Assad’s chemical weapons program, was located by Times reporters still residing in his Damascus home.
Monitoring such an extensive network of figures presents an enormous challenge for those pursuing justice. The task involves not only building complex criminal cases but also navigating the formidable obstacles to actually prosecuting them.
At the core of this monumental challenge is the dilemma of effectively coordinating global search efforts for individuals determined to remain hidden.
Many had privileged access to government channels, allowing them to procure authentic Syrian passports under false names. This, in turn, facilitated their acquisition of passports from Caribbean nations, enabling their seamless disappearance.
“Some have literally bought new identities, gaining citizenship through significant real estate investments or direct financial payments. They leverage these new names and nationalities to remain concealed,” explained Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a Paris-based organization leading justice initiatives for Syria.
“These individuals possess the financial capacity to travel without restriction, purchase new passports, and simply vanish.”
Qura al-Assad was renamed Qura al-Sham in 2024
By Lily Boyce
“He’s Gone.” The Regime’s Shocking Collapse
The chaotic mass exodus commenced late on the night of December 7, 2024, triggered by a stunning and stark realization.
For hours, Assad’s senior aides, stationed near his presidential palace office, had confidently fielded calls, reassuring colleagues and relatives. They insisted the president was present, meticulously crafting a strategy with his military, Russian, and Iranian advisors to counter the encroaching rebel forces.
However, that plan never came to fruition. And neither did Assad himself.
Upon realizing his absence, the senior aides swiftly located him at his residence, as recounted by three former palace officials. Soon after, guards outside the presidential home confirmed that Russian officials had spirited Assad away in a three-SUV convoy, accompanied by his son and personal assistant. The only other individuals Assad reportedly chose to join his flight were two financial advisors, whose expertise, as two regime insiders later clarified, would be crucial for accessing his assets in Russia.
The former president and his retinue boarded a jet bound for Hmeimim, a Russian-controlled coastal air base that had been his most vital lifeline throughout the war.
Upon discovering the president’s flight, the abandoned aides plunged into a frenzy of calls to security officials and family members. With rebels already in Damascus’s suburbs, every second counted.
“He’s gone,” a senior aide starkly informed a close relative in a phone call that night, as told to The Times. He then instructed his family to quickly pack and rendezvous at the defense ministry in Umayyad Square, the capital’s heart.
There, the senior aide and his family joined several other security officers who had gathered with their families, and linked up with Mr. Khalil, the air force intelligence director. Mr. Khalil had organized a private Yak-40 jet for their escape to Hmeimim, carrying many high-ranking officials. The plane departed Damascus airport around 1:30 a.m. on December 8, according to one of the former palace officials on board.
Satellite imagery corroborates this account: a Yak-40 aircraft was observed on the Damascus tarmac in the days leading up to the escape, disappeared on that fateful night, and was subsequently sighted at Hmeimim shortly thereafter.
“The passengers were in sheer panic,” the former palace official remembered. The flight, typically just 30 minutes, “felt like an eternity that night.”
Across Damascus, Maher al-Assad, leader of Syria’s formidable 4th Division, was frantically orchestrating his own escape. He contacted a family friend and a business associate, instructing them to swiftly evacuate their homes and wait outdoors. Moments later, he roared down the street in his car, sweeping them up before speeding off to catch his own outbound flight.
Hmeimim, the Syrian-controlled airport where at least five of the officials under investigation by The Times landed, is directly linked to a Russian military base.
For years, Russian military power was indispensable to Bashar al-Assad’s brutal suppression of the armed rebellion. In exchange, Moscow secured control over vital Mediterranean ports and bases, alongside lucrative phosphate mining and fossil fuel contracts.
Now, the Russians have once again played a pivotal role, this time in the escape of both Assad and many of his senior enforcers. Eyewitnesses at Hmeimim vividly recount a chaotic scene in the early morning hours as these deposed officials made their getaway.
According to two witnesses, individuals streamed into the Russian base, laden with bags brimming with cash and gold. Discarded Syrian military uniforms lay scattered across the grounds.
Some officials hurriedly regrouped, engaging with Russian officers who would, in the ensuing hours and days, shuttle them to Moscow on private jets, as detailed by three former officials.
Conversely, many family members of these regime figures opted to be transported to their coastal residences located near the military base.
Looting Safes and Evading Ambushes
Back in Damascus, approximately 3,000 members of the General Intelligence services remained within the vast security compound in the capital’s southwest, completely oblivious to the fact that regime elites had already abandoned them. They waited, highly agitated, under the command of their director, Hossam Louka—a figure notorious for overseeing mass detentions and systematic torture.
One of Louka’s senior officers characterized him as exceptionally subservient to Assad, remarking, “He wouldn’t even move an ashtray from here to there without asking Bashar for permission.”
The officer recalled receiving orders to prepare for a counterattack. The command, however, never arrived.
A friend of Louka’s stated he made repeated calls to the intelligence director that night for updates, always receiving reassurances that there was no cause for alarm. Then, at 2 a.m., Louka answered the phone in haste, merely to inform his friend he was packing to escape.
An hour later, Louka’s bewildered officers entered his office, only to find he had deserted them without a word. On his way out, Louka had instructed the intelligence service’s accountant to open the headquarters safe, according to one of his officers present. Louka then absconded with all the cash, an estimated $1,360,000. Three former regime officials suspect Louka has since reached Russia, though The Times has not independently confirmed this.
Within the same security compound, Kamal al-Hassan, another former high-ranking official, also ransacked his office headquarters. He seized a hard drive and all the cash from his administrative office’s safe, according to a friend and a senior regime-era figure in contact with one of Mr. al-Hassan’s deputies.
Al-Hassan, who headed military intelligence, faces accusations of orchestrating widespread arrests, torture, and the execution of detainees.
His escape, however, proved less straightforward. Al-Hassan was injured during a firefight with rebels while attempting to flee his home in a Damascus suburb, previously known as Qura al-Assad, a locale famed for its opulent villas housing regime elites. He then navigated his escape by moving discreetly from house to house, according to his friend and the regime-era official, eventually reaching the sanctuary of the Russian Embassy.
The Times attempted to reach al-Hassan through an intermediary, who spoke with him by phone. Al-Hassan, while refusing to disclose his exact location or grant an interview, did confirm his perilous escape under fire and his subsequent sheltering at “a diplomatic mission” before leaving Syria.
Ali Mamlouk, the retired national security director, also sought sanctuary at the Russian Embassy. Mamlouk was instrumental in orchestrating the pervasive system of mass arrests, torture, and disappearances that characterized five decades of Assad family rule.
According to both a friend and a relative who remained in contact with him, Mamlouk learned of the regime’s collapse only around 4 a.m. via a phone call. As he tried to join other officials heading to the airport, his motorcade was reportedly ambushed.
While the identity of his assailants remains unknown, sources indicated he had amassed a vast number of enemies over the years.
As an intelligence director serving not only Bashar al-Assad but also his father and predecessor, Hafez, Mamlouk possessed intimate knowledge of the government’s deepest secrets.
“He was the regime’s black box,” one friend remarked, “not merely from Bashar’s era, but stretching back to Hafez’s time. He knew absolutely everything.”
Mamlouk, escaping unharmed, swiftly made his way to the Russian Embassy, as confirmed by three individuals familiar with his flight.
Mamlouk and al-Hassan remained sheltered at the embassy until Russian officials organized a secure convoy to transport them to the Hmeimim base. Both men subsequently arrived in Russia, sources informed The Times.
Narrow Escapes and Hidden Identities
According to several former regime figures, a silent agreement existed: rebel commanders would largely ignore Assad loyalists fleeing towards Syria’s Mediterranean coast. This region, the heartland of the Alawite minority (Assad’s own sect) and a key recruiting ground for the regime’s security forces, was considered a safe passage to minimize further conflict.
However, such clemency would likely not have been extended to former Maj. Gen. Bassam Hassan. Few in Assad’s inner circle commanded more fear than Hassan, who stood accused of a horrifying array of crimes, from orchestrating the regime’s chemical weapons assaults to the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice.
Remarkably, Hassan managed to evade capture, despite reportedly sleeping through the initial chaotic hours of the regime’s collapse. He was awakened shortly before 5 a.m. by one of his senior commanders, as confirmed by three sources familiar with his narrative.
Hassan swiftly organized a convoy of three vehicles for his escape, carrying his wife, adult children, and bags filled with cash, according to two sources. His fear of an attack was so profound that he insisted his family travel in separate cars to prevent them from being targeted simultaneously, an associate revealed.
As their convoy neared Homs, approximately 100 miles north of Damascus, rebels halted the leading SUV, forcing Hassan’s wife and daughter out. They were instructed to abandon all their belongings, including their purses, inside the vehicle, an eyewitness reported.
Seemingly content with their plunder, the rebels paid no further attention as the women climbed into the second car, unknowingly joining one of the Assad regime’s most infamous operatives.
The likelihood of the rebels recognizing him was minimal. Inaccurate photos of Hassan had long been prevalent in the media, and even the U.S. and British governments used incorrect names or birth years in their official sanctions documents. The Times, however, has acquired and authenticated what is believed to be the only recent photograph of Hassan.
After successfully navigating the checkpoint, Hassan eventually reached Lebanon and then Iran, aided by Iranian officials. This information comes from interviews with officials from the Assad regime, Lebanon, and the U.S.
He has since returned to Beirut under an agreement to supply information to American intelligence. Associates report him spending his days in cafes and upscale restaurants with his wife. Contacted via a Lebanese WhatsApp number, he declined to be interviewed.
The Harsh Reality: Justice Elusive
For the countless victims of the Assad regime in Syria, the quest for justice appears increasingly futile.
It remains uncertain whether the current government, led by former Islamist Ahmed al-Shara, possesses either the capability or the determination to vigorously prosecute Assad officials for war crimes. Such a pursuit would inevitably draw scrutiny to the alleged transgressions of its own members.
Moreover, given the long-standing divisions among foreign powers concerning the Syrian war and the uprising against its former dictator, the prospects for an international tribunal appear dim.
For those dedicated to ensuring that the regime’s crimes are never forgotten, a grim reality persists: Assad’s most brutal enforcers continue to live luxuriously, consistently staying one step ahead of those seeking accountability.
“Assad’s inner circle are either enjoying whiskey and cards in Moscow or lounging in opulent Emirati villas,” remarked a friend of several high-ranking regime officials. “They have completely erased any memory of a place called Syria.”
Devon Lum and Neil Collier contributed reporting. Aaron Byrd contributed motion graphics production. Christoph Koettl provided additional satellite imagery analysis.