Not long after midnight on Dec. 8, 2024, dozens of people gathered in the darkness outside the military section of the Damascus International Airport. Carrying whatever they could pack, they piled into a small Syrian Air jet.
Only an hour earlier, they were part of an elite cadre that formed the backbone of one of the world’s most brutal regimes. Now, in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s sudden fall and escape from the country, they were fugitives, scrambling with their families to flee.
Among the passengers was Qahtan Khalil, director of Syria’s air force intelligence, who was accused of being directly responsible for one of the bloodiest massacres of the country’s 13-year civil war.
He was joined by Ali Abbas and Ali Ayyoub, two former ministers of defense facing sanctions for human rights violations and atrocities carried out during the conflict.
There was also the military chief of staff, Abdul Karim Ibrahim, accused of facilitating torture and sexual violence against civilians.
The presence of these and other regime figures was recounted to The New York Times by a passenger and two other former officials with knowledge of the flight.
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