Rumors swirl over Bashar al-Assad’s whereabouts as opposition forces claim regime collapse

Shafaq News/ Rumors regarding the whereabouts of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have intensified, as flights in and out of Damascus are being closely tracked in an attempt to determine whether he has fled the country.

Syrian state media has repeatedly denied reports of his departure, insisting that al-Assad remains in Damascus and is carrying out his official duties. However, there has been no public sign of the president since early Sunday, when rumors began circulating about his whereabouts.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told The Associated Press that he had received reports indicating that the Syrian president boarded a flight from Damascus to an undisclosed location.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar confirmed that a Syrian Airlines plane, believed to have carried the president, took off from Damascus International Airport around the same time opposition forces claimed to have captured the capital.

Initially, the plane appeared to head toward Syria’s coastal region, but it suddenly veered off course for several minutes before disappearing from the radar. Senior Syrian military officers later confirmed to Reuters that Al-Assad had left Damascus on a plane heading to an unknown destination.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali later stated that the whereabouts of both Al-Assad and his defense minister had been unknown since Saturday night.

While some sources have speculated that Al-Assad may have sought refuge outside Syria, including reports suggesting Russian protection, Israeli media has cast doubt on his departure. Israel's Channel 12 and the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that it was unclear whether Al-Assad had actually left the country, with some sources pointing to the possibility that he remains under Russian protection either in Syria or Russia itself.

On the other hand, Axios cited Israeli and American sources who claimed Al-Assad left Damascus for a Russian military base in Syria, with plans to travel to Moscow, although there were no indications that he had left Syria.

If Assad is indeed out of the picture, the country faces the prospect of a power vacuum. The opposition remains fragmented, and no unified force is poised to take control. Rebel factions have long been divided, with a history of internal conflict.

The group leading the new offensive against Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is rooted in the extremism of al-Qaida, although its leadership has sought to reassure other Syrian communities that it does not intend to impose its ideology. Nonetheless, there are widespread concerns about what a future under HTS might entail.