Former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was reportedly poisoned in an assassination attempt in Moscow, where he is currently in hiding. The ex-dictator was hospitalised recently at the Russian capital, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on September 20.
Assad, 60, was admitted to the hospital till last Monday and was discharged after recovery.
The poisoning happened while he was staying at home in a villa that was heavily guarded by Russian authorities. Compared to other Syrian figures who are also in hiding in Moscow, Assad’s movement is restricted.
The human rights watchdog reported that authorities didn't know who was responsible but knew that it was a poisoning attempt.
“Only the party that carried out the operation knows whether it was to kill Bashar al-Assad or to embarrass the Russian government,” the report adds.
A source who spoke to the Human Rights group said that the Russian government had nothing to do with the matter and said that “it may have been intended to implicate the Russian government, which is sheltering him, and to suggest that President Putin is incapable of protecting him.”
The report also said that the actors were neither the US nor the Syrian government.
Despite his movements being restricted at the villa, his brother, Maher al-Assad, visits him often. His brother and Mansour Azzam also visited him in the Hospital.
Russian officials have not yet made a statement on the matter. There is also no direct independent source that confirmed that Assad was poisoned.
Assad was deposed from the government in December after an offensive by rebel groups ended the 13-year civil war and six decades of his autocratic rule. He and his British wife, Asma al-Assad, and their three children were granted political asylum in Russia.
Many other figures of the former Syrian government, including all of the first rank security and military figures, are based in Moscow, such as Suhail Hassan, Ghiath Bala, Rami Makhlouf, Kifah Melhem, and Ali Abbas, the Minister of Defence.