SOHR: Syria’s former dictator survives poisoning attempt in Moscow

Although rushed to the hospital in critical condition, Bashar al-Assad was released ten days later after treatment.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has survived a poisoning attempt in Russia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Thursday.

On Sept. 20, the 60-year-old ex-strongman was rushed to an emergency room in a critical state and admitted to the intensive care unit, the opposition media site said.

No one was allowed to visit him in the private hospital except his brother, Maher, according to the report.

Assad was released after 10 days of treatment in “stable” condition, SOHR said.

“Only the party that carried out the operation knows whether it was to kill Bashar al-Assad or to embarrass the Russian government,” the organization said, suggesting the act was meant to show that President Vladimir Putin “is incapable of protecting him.”

Putin provided asylum to the ousted president, his immediate family and closest associates after rebel forces seized Syria and ended his family’s iron rule 10 months ago.

Some social media users noted that Russians have a history of using poison against those the regime fears or opposes.

In 2018, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were attacked in England with a chemical nerve agent and barely survived.

In 2020, while in exile in Germany, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the same substance, allegedly placed in his underwear.

He died suddenly in 2024 in a Russian penal colony, and his wife said “biological samples” she obtained proved he had been poisoned.

According to the SOHR, Assad lives in a luxurious villa near Moscow that is heavily guarded by Russia’s security services.

Although his British-born wife Asma, who is battling cancer, has been seen in public since the family’s exile began, Assad himself has kept completely out of the public eye.

He reportedly still receives visitors in his home.

A 2022 U.S. State Department report estimated the Assad family’s wealth at $1 billion to $2 billion, saying it had looted Syria and laundered money from criminal activity during its 54 years in power.

The estimate was based on the belief that “family assets … are spread out and concealed in numerous accounts, real estate portfolios, corporations and offshore tax havens,” as well as under false names, according to the report.

Russia and Iran were Assad’s main lifelines during the 13-year civil war that predated his ouster.

However, neither country intervened in December when the Turkish-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group took over most of Syria in a lightning offensive and established a new government in Damascus.