Former Syrian Prez Assad, his aides flee country

People celebrating the ouster of Syria’s former president. Pic/PTI

After insurgents toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria last week, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns.

Maher Assad is the younger brother of the ousted president and the commander of the 4th Armoured Division. He is under US and European sanctions. He disappeared over the weekend, and Abdurrhaman said he made it to Russia. Maj Gen Ali Mamlouk, security adviser to Assad and former head of the intelligence services, fled to Lebanon, and it is not clear if he is still in the country under the protection of Hezbollah.

Brig Gen Suheil al-Hassan, the commander of the 25th Special Missions Forces Division and later became the head of the Syrian Special Forces, is known to have close ties to Russia and was praised by Russian President Vladimir Putin during one of his visits to Syria. Al-Hassan's whereabouts are not known.

Maj Gen Hussam Luka, head of the General Security Directorate intelligence service, has been sanctioned by the US and Britain for his role in the crackdown. It's not clear where he is. Maj Gen Qahtan Khali, whose whereabouts are also unknown, was head of the Air Force Intelligence service and is widely known as the "Butcher of Daraya" for allegedly leading a 2012 attack on a Damascus suburb of the same name that killed hundreds of people.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever