Kamal Saker the former director of the communications bureau of the Syrian presidency, reveals in his first interview the dramatic moments that preceded the fall of a regime Bashar al-Assad On December 8, 2024. In a conversation with the Al-Arabiya network, Saqer describes how Assad lost contact with Moscow in the critical days before the fall of the regime.
According to Saker, Assad tried unsuccessfully to contact the Russian president Vladimir Putin for two consecutive days. The trials began on Wednesday, December 4, and continued until Thursday. After failing in his attempts, Assad turned to the Russian special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentievbut answered that Putin is on a visit to Belarus and is not available – an excuse perceived as a deliberate rejection.
In the last days before the fall of the regime, Saker says, Assad planned to give a televised speech. The speech, which contained about 400 words, was planned for Thursday but was postponed to Friday, and finally canceled altogether. Saker points out that Assad was under a lot of stress and the content of the speech was “surprising”.
On the night between December 7 and 8, after midnight, a Russian military attaché arrived at the presidential palace. He coordinated Assad’s escape through the Damascus airport to the Russian air force base in Hamimim, and from there to Russia. Together with Assad, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, his personal security and former Presidential Secretary General Mansur Azzam fled.
The interview with Saker constitutes the first testimony from a senior source within the Syrian government about the last hours of the Assad regime, and provides a rare glimpse into the process of the regime’s collapse from within.