Bashar’s Irish Goodbye
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Working from the palace, Mr. al-Assad, who had wielded fear and force to maintain his authoritarian rule over Syria for more than two decades, had betrayed no sense of alarm to his staff, according to a palace insider whose office was near the president’s.
The capital’s defenses had been bolstered, Mr. al-Assad’s aides were told, including by the powerful 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, led by the president’s brother Maher al-Assad, the insider said.
They had all been deceived.
After dusk, the president slipped out of the capital, flying covertly to a Russian military base in northern Syria and then on a Russian jet to Moscow, according to six Middle Eastern government and security officials.
If you’re a tyrant, the folks who work for you are also the most likely ones to kill you or rat you out to the rebels, so it makes sense to keep everyone (evidently including your brother) in the dark. But still…