Inside warmonger's $1billionn palace as war rages and earthquake hits country

26 March 2023 , 07:20

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Heavily protected palace near the city of Latakia (Image: BBC)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lives a life of luxury with palaces, private jets and a billion-dollar fortune, despite his country being mired in misery after 12 years of war and a devastating earthquake.

While no one knows exactly where warmonger Bashar, his British wife Asma al-Assad and their three children live, they have multiple palaces throughout the country.

Glimpses into their lavish lifestyle are mainly seen at the President People's Palace in the capital Damascus which is mainly used for hosting meetings with visiting foreign leaders, officials and very occasionally, journalists rather than as a family residence.

The BBC series "A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad" said that Bashar's father, Hafez, employed Japanese architect Kenzō Tange to design the palace which cost a purported $1billion (£800,000) and was completed in 1990.

President People's Palace in the capital Damascus (BBC)

Journalist Jeremy Bowen went on a rare visit in 2015 and wrote: "The palace is a workplace; the Assads live elsewhere. The marble guest house is built in the style of a small hotel; the library leads off a central majlis, or sitting area, with perhaps 30 armchairs.

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"The fountains at the corners of the majlis were dry when I visited."

Some believe that the Assad's are hiding in a bunker deep beneath Damascus, and others that the Syrian president and his wife have relocated to a heavily protected palace near the city of Latakia.

The Latakia palace is right on the edge of a cliff, situated next to the sea so the family could flee in a boat if they came under siege.

Footage from the BBC shows the enormous complex with tonnes of outdoor space.

One room was fitted with 125,000 marble tiles, at $85 a tile – equating to $10.6m (BBC)

Estimates by the US Department of State, based on open-source information, put the Assad family's net worth at between $1-2 billion.

A report by the department read: "The Assads maintain close patronage relationships with Syria’s largest economic players, using their companies to launder money from illicit activities and funnel funds to the regime."

Pictures from last summer showed the whole Assad family on a rare visit to the northern province of Aleppo.

Photographs published by the president’s office show the ophthalmologist-turned-murderer with his wife and their two sons and a daughter walking through Aleppo - where an estimated 33,500 buildings have been either damaged or destroyed in the war.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad (AFP)

The whole family were pictured wearing freshly pressed linens, with the President in a tailor-made suit and the First Lady with perfectly blowdried hair.

In June, Israel warned Bashar that a palace of his would be its next target if his regime continued to allow Iran to smuggle arms through his country, Saudi news portal Elaph reported.

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On the Presidential Offices Instagram account, there is further insight into the immaculately clean-looking palace. Neatly placed armchairs play host to fellow dictators in rooms with shiny marble floors and large paintings on the walls.

The marble guest house is built in the style of a small hotel (Alamy Stock Photo)

A report from 1989 claimed that one room was fitted with 125,000 marble tiles, at $85 (£69)a tile – equating to $10.6m (£8.8m) for a single room.

It is a far cry from the millions of Syrian people living amid rubble, with 70 per cent of the population now in need of humanitarian aid.

Oliver Wainright wrote in 2013: "The massive masonry walls define hidden inner courtyards and extend out to frame expanses of tinted glazing at their ends, cantilevered over the hilltop like blank, all-seeing eyes.

"From the city below, a jumble of concrete apartment blocks and low-rise housing, you cannot escape the sense of being watched over by some mute, panoptic force."

Rachel Hagan