A group of Syrian rebels has set fire to the mausoleum where the remains of former Syrian president Hafez al Assad rest, father of the deposed Bashar al Assad and promoter of a political dynasty that came to an end last weekend with the triumph of an offensive led by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS).
A group of Syrian rebels set fire to the mausoleum where the remains of former Syrian president Hafez al Assad rest, father of Bashar al Assad and promoter of a political dynasty that came to an end last weekend https://t.co/Pit7OQsz9E pic.twitter.com/123QGgr1D8
— Europa Press (@europapress) December 11, 2024
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed the burning of the tomb, located in the town of Al Qardaha, the hometown of Hafez al Assad. The former president, who assumed power after a military coup in 1970, died in 2000, the date on which his youngest son, Bashar, ascended to the Presidency.
The Observatory, based in London but with sources inside Syria, has released images of a group of men inside the mausoleum after the attack, several of them dressed in military uniform.
Bashar al Assad fled Syria with his family last weekend, when the insurgency took control of the capital, Damascus. Russia has offered them asylum, although for now the deposed president has not commented on the political future of the country he has left behind.