How did Bashar al-Assad keep his family in the dark in the final moments before the fall of his government?
This month, when rebels in Syria overthrew the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, the Assad family was faced with a reality they were not prepared for.
For years, the Assad family has been associated with power, influence and brutality.
In an interview with the BBC three days after Assad’s ouster, his cousin Hafez Munthar al-Assad revealed that his family had no idea that Assad had fled the country.
“Bashar betrayed the world, as well as the entire family, and embarrassed us in front of everyone,” he says.
“This is treason in every sense,” he says. [Bashar] should have told us what was happening, but we learned about his escape from the media.”
Munthar al-Assad said his family had not even had a chance to manage their own affairs.
Russia granted Assad political asylum after he fled Damascus and arrived in Moscow. ‘He didn’t tell anyone, not even his brother Maher al-Assad.’
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad claims that Maher al-Assad first went to Lebanon, then Iraq, then to Russia via Hmeimim airfield. ‘While I, Wasim and the rest of the family were hiding in the mountains.’
Latakia Governor Hafez Munthar al-Assad
Latakia Governor Hafez Munthar al-Assad was born in 1987. He is the brother of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and the grandson of Jamil al-Assad, the uncle of former President Bashar al-Assad.
As a member of the Assad family, he also benefited from the Assad family’s rule over the country.
According to a BBC investigative report, Hafez was one of the main traders in Bashar al-Assad’s illegal trade. The report described how members of the Assad family benefited financially from this trade.
In an interview with the BBC, Hafez Munthar al-Assad insisted that he was not involved in these activities. However, he admitted that the Fourth Division, led by Maher al-Assad, was systematically spreading the trade in the narcotic drug Captagon.
But is Hafez Munthar al-Assad still in contact with the ousted president? What does he have to say about the day the rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad's government?
"Recruit people, we will send weapons"
During the interview, Hafez Manthar al-Assad revealed that on the night that the rebels took Hama, President Bashar al-Assad’s economic adviser, Yasser Ibrahim, contacted him and asked him to recruit people in Latakia and provide them with weapons.
According to Hafez, he was told to send these new recruits to the army’s security branch in the city as soon as possible so that they could be sent to support the army in Hama. “Recruit people as soon as possible, and we will send you weapons.”
However, Hafez Manthar al-Assad says that he was unable to implement this request due to a lack of funds. “The salary per person of the recruits was about 6 million Syrian pounds, which was difficult to obtain in those conditions, and thus Hama and Damascus fell to the rebels.”
News published a few days before the fall of the Assad regime claimed that orders were issued to recruit more people in several areas after the Syrian opposition intensified its military campaign.
Hafez Manthar al-Assad added that he was also asked to contact local businessmen to get financial support for the recruitment process, but he was unable to do so.
However, he does not deny that the government was willing to work with any businessmen to get financial support for military operations. The most important thing for them was to find businessmen who were willing to do this work.
He says that he did not care who the businessmen were. “The important thing was that they pay the soldiers’ salaries.”
Discussing the situation facing the Assad family during this time, he said that there was no contact with Bashar or any member of the family during these circumstances.
Hafez Manthar al-Assad says that at that time the Assad family had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, nor was the family involved in any decisions of the presidency or the state.
“I was in Qardaha when I heard that the army had retreated and that the rebels had taken Damascus and were advancing towards Latakia,” he says. “That’s when I realized that the regime had fallen.”
Hafiz claims that he sent several warning messages before the regime fell, suggesting that the situation was “clear” before the fall.
“I was talking to Major General Ghassan Bilal, from the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, and I told him that what was being done was a big mistake.”
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad says he told General Bilal that he had starved the people, robbed them of their money and jobs, which has led to people losing faith in the regime.
“If this had not been done, 80 percent of the people would have stood with you.”
He points to the government’s increased imposition of royalties, exploitation and confiscation of citizens’ property between 2017 and 2024, saying that all these factors exacerbated the crisis that ultimately led to the fall of the Assad regime.
But according to locals, Hafez Munthar al-Assad himself was also involved in all these activities during this period.
Concerns about the future of those associated with the Assad regime
Expressing his concerns about the possibility of those associated with the Assad regime being executed, he mentions reports of several people being sentenced to death, including his cousin Suleiman Hilal al-Assad. However, he himself cannot confirm whether Suleiman Hilal al-Assad has actually been killed.
“I honestly don’t know anything about it, I was told that they would execute me too. However, none of us have been arrested so far.
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad says he is not guilty because he was working under a state.
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad says he is ready for ‘justice’. Regarding the possibility of talks with the Syrian opposition, he says he is ready to talk with a ‘regular state’.
He claims, citing the example of Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf, that the Assad family faced far more challenges than an ordinary citizen.
During Bashar al-Assad’s rule, Rami Makhlouf was placed under house arrest and the government confiscated his property to put pressure on him.
‘I am not a politician and I have no connection to the army, I only took advantage of the government by using my family name.’
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad says he used the name ‘Assad’ to solve his own problems or to gain financial advantage in smuggling cases.
Saydnaya Prison'I know nothing about secret prisons'
When Hafez Munthar al-Assad was asked by the BBC about secret prisons and prisoners, he described the Assad regime's prisons as brutal and said that he had not entered any prisons and that he did not know the details of these places.
He said that he did not have any information or evidence that could tell him anything about people being held in detention or those who had been forcibly disappeared in Syria.
'I do not know about this and I do not know that we have any such prisoners.'
'Don't talk to me as a soldier, I am a civilian, and I only know about Saydnaya Prison or anything else that was broadcast on TV.'
He claims that his military role with the government was limited to recruiting people and sending them to security branches such as 'Military Security' or 'Fourth Division'. He says he did all this under the state's orders.
'I am like everyone else. I have no role in politics or religious matters and I have no knowledge of those who were arrested.'
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad also appeared to deny his claims during an interview with the BBC that he had not entered Syrian prisons.
He said that the authorities held him in solitary confinement for three months and 17 days.
Referring to the repression and censorship he faced, he says, 'We were no better than others, but we could not speak.'
According to Hafiz Munthar al-Assad, he was arrested twice. The last time he was arrested was about two years ago for 30 days 'after an audio recording of him cursing Bashar al-Assad was leaked'.
According to him, he had to pay former Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Azzam $100,000 to be released.
Speaking about his first prison experience, he said he was detained in Prison 215 at the age of seventeen.
Hafez Munthar al-Assad said the purpose of his imprisonment was to pressure his father to stop him from writing against the Syrian government online.
Hafez denies allegations that he used violence to control parts of the city of Latakia. He says, “No women were raped, no one was blackmailed.”
‘We were fools in 2011’
Hafiz Munthar al-Assad says he had no role in suppressing the protests that began in the coastal areas of Syria in 2011.
‘We were fools in 2011. We were deluded and worried about saving ourselves, thinking that what was happening was terrorism, and that they would slaughter us and destroy our sect.’
He says the government took advantage of the threat from the so-called Islamic State to try to convince others that Syria’s security was at risk. According to him, many people accepted the story without checking it.
Regarding the allegations of using violence against protesters, he said the allegations against him were not true. He said he had no involvement in security matters.
‘I saw the businessmen and financial affairs working under the roof of the state.’
He said he did not imprison or torture anyone. Hafez Munthar al-Assad said that if he had a personal problem with someone, he would summon them and send them back with two slaps, but he did not torture them.
When people cheered him on his departure, he said, “This is my city, and they are running it on sectarian lines.”
He said that one of his sisters’ husbands is Sunni, while the other sister’s fiancé is Sunni. He added that his father also married a Sunni woman.
Hafez Munthar al-Assad considers himself a “symbol of terror” in Latakia, but he defends his actions, saying that there is nothing wrong with it.
When Hafez Munthar al-Assad was asked about the videos in which bags of drug pills can be seen allegedly in his car showroom, he said that the bags were bags of pills used to clean swimming pools.
“I have samples of them. I can send them to you for verification.’
The BBC spoke to several residents of Hafez Munthar al-Assad’s hometown of Latakia and the village of Qardah. Several people testified that Hafez Munthar al-Assad used violence, threats and bullying to force investors and businessmen into partnerships with him. He would later take full control of their properties.
Locals also pointed out that he would kidnap local people and force them to join the army. If they refused, they would be tortured and in some cases even killed. In addition, family members of those who refused would also be harmed.
Locals say that Hafez was so terrifying that people would flee when he came.
He often threatened people with the phrase, “Hafiz has come to the street.”
According to a reliable source in the city of Latakia, Hafiz himself committed violence against women and was aware of many cases of rape. However, he said that most people were forced to keep their names secret for fear of reproach.
Hafiz denies allegations of raping or blackmailing any women.
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