section_path: Opposition takeover/Departure of the Assad family
section_name: Departure of the Assad family
paragraph_text: Departure of the Assad family
  
  First Lady Asma al-Assad had moved to Russia with the couple's three children about a week before opposition forces had begun their advance toward Damascus. Concurrent reports indicated that members of Assad's extended family, including relatives from his sister's lineage, took refuge in the United Arab Emirates. In the days before the opposition's advance, Egyptian and Jordanian officials were reported to have urged Bashar al-Assad to leave the country and form a government-in-exile, although the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Jordanian embassy denied doing so.
  
  In the early hours of 8 December, Assad departed from Damascus International Airport to Moscow, Russia in a private aircraft, after which government troops stationed at the facility were dismissed from their posts. According to Rami Abdel Rahman (SOHR), Bashar al-Assad had "left Syria via Damascus international airport". Following efforts by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to facilitate his departure, Assad, who left under great secrecy, was reported to have gone first to the Russian-operated Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia before proceeding to Moscow. Mikhail Ulyanov (Russia's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna) announced on Telegram that Assad and his family had been granted asylum in Russia. The Russian government said that Assad resigned the presidency following a personal decision. On 16 December, the Telegram account of the Syrian presidency published a statement attributed to Assad saying that he had gone to a Russian military base in Latakia Governorate "to oversee combat operations" following the fall of Damascus but was evacuated out of the country by Russia after coming under siege from rebel forces, adding that he had no intention of resigning or going into exile.
  
  Apart from Bashar, his brother Maher al-Assad also fled abroad, flying a helicopter to Iraq before proceeding to Russia, while two of their cousins, Ehab and Eyad Makhlouf, tried to flee to Lebanon by car but were reportedly ambushed by rebels who killed Ehab and injured Eyad. On 27 December, Rasha Khazem, the wife of Bashar's cousin Duraid Assad — who is in turn the son of Bashar's uncle Rifaat al-Assad, was arrested along with her daughter Shams in Lebanon while they were attempting to fly out to Egypt. Rifaat was reported to have left via Lebanon the previous day. The Syrian embassy in Beirut was subsequently closed after reports emerged that Rasha and Shams' passports were forged at the office.
  
  Following the departures of members of the Assad family, videos showing groups of people entering and exploring inside Bashar al-Assad's empty residence in al-Maliki were circulated online.