The Russian protection effectively amounts to
political asylum for the Syrian president, unnamed intelligence sources
told the Saudi daily al-Watan. Assad now travels by helicopter to
mainland Syria for official meetings in his presidential palace in
Damascus, having lost faith in his security detail, the report said.
Assad has grown increasingly entrenched in the
22 months since the start of a popular uprising that has called for his
ouster and claimed the lives of over 60,000 Syrians, according to UN
figures. Russia has remained the regime’s staunchest ally, vetoing
international intervention at the UN Security Council.
Al-Watan previously reported that Iranian
intelligence had succeeded in recruiting Assad’s maternal cousin,
Colonel Hafez Makhlouf — unbeknownst to Assad and his intelligence —
causing the Syrian president deep concern regarding security breaches.
On Monday, government airships attacked an
opposition stronghold in the Damascus suburb of Maadamiyeh, killing at
least 13. Opposition activists described the raid as one of the heaviest
barrages of the Damascus region since the government launched an
offensive in November to dislodge rebels from the capital’s outskirts.
The intelligence sources told al-Watan that
Assad’s fear of opposition advances in the capital was among the reasons
for his retreat to sea, which would allow for quick evacuation to
Moscow if need be.
Russia has endorsed a speech by Assad last week in which he offered to end the crisis by calling national elections and forming a new government.
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