JAKARTA - More than a year after fleeing Syria, the ousted former President Bashar Assad is living a luxurious life in a remote area of Moscow, Russia. Assad, who remains isolated from political life, also studied ophthalmology.
According to a source quoted by the Guardian newspaper earlier this week, Assad now lives in or near Rublyovka, an exclusive community west of Moscow favoured by Russia's political and financial elite.
A family friend told the Guardian that Assad had studied Russian and reviewed his former medical training.
Assad studied ophthalmology in London before coming to power in Syria in 2000.
However, Russian authorities reportedly banned him from engaging in any form of political or media activity.
English:
English:
The Russian ambassador to Iraq confirmed in November 2025 that Assad was banned from appearing in public, although he was safe and under protection.
Assad was ousted in December 2024 when rebel forces advanced on Damascus, ending his family's decades-long rule of Syria. He fled the country overnight, with Russian help, after 14 years of civil war that killed more than 600,000 people and displaced nearly 14 million.
Sources told The Guardian that Assad left Syria without warning senior regime allies or members of his extended family, many of whom were forced to rush to flee as the government collapsed.
His brother, Maher Assad, a senior military figure, is said to have remained in Damascus until the last moments, helping others flee.
English:
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
