How Bashar Assad’s inner circle fled Syria after his fall

Cairo –

A lightning rebel offensive early this month caught Syria’s ruling clan off guard.

President Bashar Assad fled to Russia on Dec. 8, leaving behind many of his collaborators, some of whom sought refuge in neighboring countries.

According to two sources, the ousted president, who fled to Moscow via the Russian military airfield in Hmeimim on Syria’s coast, was accompanied by only a handful of confidants.