Rebel fighters who stormed Bashar Al-Assad’s palaces and properties across Syria after toppling his regime have exposed the dictator’s lavish lifestyle and collection of highly personal photographs to the world.
Footage shows Syrians triumphantly strolling through his mansions, discovering the lives of luxury he and his family enjoyed while millions suffered under his brutal regime.
One of his palaces, high in the hills above Damascus, was also toured by journalists who noted its extravagant decor, amenities such as a barber salon and a jacuzzi, and security features that included bulletproof doors in his bedroom.
Meanwhile, old photographs supposedly found during the looting of his homes show a young Assad in his underwear, images he would never have expected the eyes of the world to see, but which have since been circulating on social media.
Unearthed family photographs belonging to the tyrant include one of him apparently on a hike, happily standing next to a cousin wearing a T-shirt depicting Adolf Hitler.
Another image, apparently from a costume party, shows the blackface former ophthalmologist dressed as a hunter, carrying a rifle while smiling at the camera.
The inappropriate images have been ridiculed by Syrians, who after decades of forced imprisonment, displacement and persecution under Assad and his father’s tyranny have hailed his deposition and exile as the beginning of a new era.
Assad’s homes, which appear to have been hastily abandoned by him, his family and his allies as rebel fighters approached, have been emptied of their remaining possessions by Syrians seeking revenge.
One image shows Assad dressed only in white pants and a vest, clearly posing for the camera.
A jacuzzi is seen in one of Assad’s palaces, a hilltop residence on the outskirts of Damascus.
Rebels take a photograph believed to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing only swimming trunks after the capture of his palace in Aleppo.
Other creepy images show him in a khaki hunter costume with a gun and a fur accessory, alongside friends who are also in costume.
In another image he appears on a balcony overlooking the sea, provoking a girl who is sitting on his shoulders.
The billionaire’s luxurious belongings have been stripped from his residences, while furniture, documents, letters and other objects have been left scattered throughout the destroyed buildings.
Very personal mementos have been found among his belongings in his palace in Aleppo and Damascus, such as photographs of the deposed president at his wedding to the British Asma Akhras, as well as strange images from his youth.
Rebel fighters who seized Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, in a lightning advance nearly two weeks ago stumbled upon a photograph of the barely dressed former Syrian leader as a young man.
The image shows Assad years before inheriting the presidency from his father, posing with three other people in bathing suits, sitting on the side of a boat at night.
One person wrote on social media: “A photograph found in the palace of the idiot and criminal Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.”
Another image shows a young Assad dressed only in white pants and a vest, clearly posing for the camera as he leans on the kitchen counter and turns his head.
Other creepy images show him in a khaki hunter costume with a gun and fur accessory, alongside friends dressed as a cowboy and a soldier.
Wearing blackface, he stands alongside two other men dressed in culturally inappropriate outfits.
A huge atrium with marble floors and high-end furniture was abandoned after Assad’s overthrow this week.
A large bedroom in one of the presidential palaces, located on the outskirts of Damascus.
The dated photos, apparently from when the 59-year-old was a young man in the ’80s and ’90s, also show him posing in denim shorts and sunglasses.
In another image he appears on a balcony overlooking the sea, provoking a girl who is sitting on his shoulders and who clings to him as he leans back.
The images, along with the opulent homes in which they were found, show the privileged lives the Assad family led in Syria, where many citizens live on about a dollar a day.
Assad’s wife Asma, the daughter of a London-born doctor who married into the dynasty in 2000, became accustomed to a life of luxury, with reports that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on furniture and clothing for home during her husband’s reign of terror.
The US State Department estimates that the family is worth $2 billion and that their wealth is hidden in numerous accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
Unearthed family photographs belonging to the tyrant include one of him apparently on a hike, happily standing next to a cousin wearing a T-shirt depicting Adolf Hitler.
The dated photos apparently show the 59-year-old was a young man of the 1980s and 1990s.
Photographs have emerged of the Assads’ abandoned homes after a dramatic week in which opposition fighters took over Damascus, sealing the stunning fall of the Syrian dictator’s brutal regime.
Following the capture of Damascus, Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group leading the rebel factions, said on Telegram that it was the end of a dark era.
The rebels arrived in the Syrian capital on Sunday for the first time since the region was recaptured by government troops in 2018, immediately targeting Assad’s official and family residences, where looting was already taking place.
Images now show empty, smoke-blackened rooms around the Tishreen presidential palace, and yesterday rebel fighters sought revenge against late president Hafez Al-Assad by setting fire to his grave.
His son and his wider family have left their homeland in disgrace and will begin a new life in exile, most likely without the luxuries to which they have become accustomed.