Exiled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was recently hospitalised in critical condition after being poisoned while staying in Russia, according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Assad, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was rushed to a hospital on September 20 and remained under medical care for nine days before being released.
This comes days after Syria issued an international arrest warrant for former president Bashar al-Assad. The poisoning allegedly occurred at his villa near Moscow, a location said to be heavily guarded by Russian security forces.
Assad and his family fled to Russia in December after rebel forces overthrew his regime, ending a brutal 13-year civil war that began with pro-democracy protests and was met with violent crackdowns. The conflict drew in multiple foreign powers, including Russia, Iran, the U.S., and Turkey.
“Whether the poisoning was a result of confusion or more, no one knows,” read the report. “When Bashar al-Assad was admitted to the hospital, he was admitted in an emergency room and in critical condition in intensive care in a private hospital in or near the Moscow suburbs.”
“Only the party that carried out the operation knows whether it was to kill Bashar al-Assad or to embarrass the Russian government,” the report added.
Assad faces serious accusations, including the use of chemical weapons on civilians and systematic torture. As of March 2024, over 600,000 people had died in the war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The United Nations estimates that more than half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million has been displaced.
Bashar al-Assad, a member of Syria’s Alawite minority—a sect that has long held significant political power- assumed the presidency in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled since 1971.
Bashar’s rise came through an unopposed election, continuing the authoritarian legacy of his father, a Soviet-aligned leader who elevated Alawites to influential roles in Syria’s political and military institutions.
Asma al-Assad has filed for divorce from deposed former Syrian President Bashar in Russia. Asma sought to leave Moscow, expressing dissatisfaction with her life in exile
Following the 2011 pro-democracy protests, Assad’s regime launched a brutal crackdown that escalated into a full-scale civil war. His forces became known for harsh tactics against opposition groups, many of which were made up of grassroots militias and military defectors.
In 2013, UN inspectors confirmed “overwhelming and indisputable” evidence of nerve gas use in Syria, specifically in an August 21 attack on Damascus suburbs. Then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned it as “the worst use of weapons of mass destruction in the 21st century.”
One million Syrian refugees have returned from abroad since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December, the United Nations said Wednesday, urging more support to allow others to follow.
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“In just nine months, one million Syrians have returned to their country following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government on 8 December 2024,” the UN refugee agency said in a statement, calling on the international community to “scale up its support to end the suffering and displacement of millions of Syrians who were forced to flee their homes in the past 14 years and help the country to rebuild”.
Inside Syria, UN agencies have said they received less than a quarter of what they need to provide aid this year, while receiving just 30 per cent of the funding needed to address the wider Syria situation.
(With inputs from agencies)