Syria. The last moments of the Bashar al-Assad regime

Presidential Palace in Damascus. A brainstorming session of people from Bashar al-Assad's inner circle is underway. The president's advisers are working on the wording of the presidential appeal to the nation, which would lead to a peaceful end to the 13-year-old civil war in Syria.

However, it is already December 7 and rebel forces are already on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, which they reached in just 10 days.

Bashar al-Assad is to deliver an address to the nation, broadcast on state television, in which he would announce his plan to share power with the rebels. This was to save his skin.

A TV crew was already on site, cameras and lights were set up. But the appeal was never recorded.

The dictator fled the capital without even informing many of his closest advisors. Assad secretly slipped out of the palace after dark and went to a Russian military base in northern Syria and from there to Moscow. This information did not reach the palace staff until after midnight. Earlier, they learned that the rebels had defeated government forces intended to defend Damascus.

They began to flee in panic, leaving the gates of the palace open, which was captured a few hours later.

Bashar al-Assad's flight ended his family's more than 50 years of authoritarian rule in Syria. A few days earlier, the president sought military help from the leaders Russia, Iran and Iraq.

On November 30, forces of the rebel coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Aleppo, controlled by government troops. Bashar al-Assad was in Moscow at the time. Information about the fall of one of Syria's largest cities forced him to return to the country. Back then, no one probably suspected that Damascus was equally vulnerable to a rebel offensive.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Assad asked for help from the countries that supported him in the civil war. Two days after the fall of Aleppo, Iran's foreign minister arrived in Syria. The politician later told state media in Iran that the president was furious and confused that his troops were unable to hold the city.

Another key ally of Assad was Vladimir Putin. Russia maintained a military base in northern Syria and a naval base in Tartus, located on the Mediterranean Sea. Putin began supporting the Syrian president militarily in 2015.

In the first days of the rebel offensive after the capture of Aleppo, there was a noticeable cooling in relations between the dictators in Syria and Russia. When Assad called, Putin no longer picked up the phone.

The offensive moved quickly, with the rebels' path to the Syrian capital standing in the cities of Hama and Homs, which were captured over the next few days.

Military commanders in Iran then told Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that rebel troops were attacking so quickly that they would not have time to help the falling al-Assad regime. The Ayatollah then sent an adviser to Damascus with the idea that the President of Syria should offer the opposition political concessions and create a new government with its participation. These actions were intended to buy Assad some time.

The Syrian dictator realized that he was absorbed war in Ukraine Russia has no intention of helping him, and Iran is unable to do so. Desperate, he sent his foreign minister to Baghdad in neighboring Iraq. It was intended to convince representatives of the Iraqi authorities that the takeover of rule in Syria by rebels would pose a threat to Iraq. The minister allegedly begged for military help from the eastern neighbor, but was refused.

The Iranian authorities appealed for a diplomatic solution to the situation, but at the same time they realized that the Assad regime would not survive. So they began to secretly withdraw their diplomatic and military personnel from the Syrian capital.

“We have been informed that the rebels will reach Damascus on Saturday and that there are no plans to defend the city,” said one of the notes left by members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, obtained by the New York Times. “The people and army of Syria do not want another war. It's over,” the message said.

On December 7, rebel troops approached Damascus after capturing the city of Homs. Residents rushed to stores to replenish food supplies in case the fighting forced them to stay at home. Others fled, refueling their cars in a hurry.

The notes of the troops and government services also showed that the offensive was progressing very quickly and reaching the capital was only a matter of hours.

However, this news did not reach the president's advisers planning his speech. “People continued to draw scenarios and the thought that Damascus would fall was not expressed by anyone,” a person close to Bashar al-Assad told the New York daily. The staff gathered in the palace were still waiting for the president, and the recording of the speech was postponed. Assad was expected to speak soon. Soon everything became clear. After dusk, the president's entourage was no longer sure where the head of state was.

Already on the night of December 7-8, they received a phone call informing them that the president had fled the country. Panic broke out and people ran away. Only later did they realize that no message was planned and the plot was only to keep the escape a secret.

– He deceived us – said the “NYT” interlocutor. – Is he still supported by the people? No, on the contrary. He betrayed us, he declared.