DAMASCUS, Syria — The bedroom featured soft recessed lighting that illuminated the elegant cornicing and the dimpled headboard of the bed below. However, the mattress was placed on a coffee table in the center of the room.
Protected by a bulletproof door several inches thick, it was owned by former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma until they were forced to flee to Russia with their adult children earlier this week. It was the master bedroom of one of the palaces.
After 13 years of civil war and 60 years of clan tyranny, toppled from power by a lightning-fast rebel attack, the regime’s lavish trappings that inflicted fear and poverty on the Syrian people are now behind us. It’s obvious to everyone.
NBC News visited the illegal modernist palace in the mountains of the capital Damascus on Wednesday and found it relatively peaceful, despite the appearance of having been robbed.
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the extremist group that led the overthrow of the rebels, raided cars to prevent further thefts from the building that served as Assad’s main residence until he was ousted. They were on guard duty while conducting inspections.
Once inside, the door swung open to reveal a cavernous, marble-clad dining room with a three-seater table at each end. The chandelier above looked like the finest crystal.
It also appears that no expense was spared at one of President Assad’s guesthouses nearby.
One room had been set on fire and the chandelier covered in ash, while several other rooms appeared to have been robbed, with art left on the walls and mother-of-pearl still on the door. .
The new carpet in the renovated staircase was still under the attached vinyl, as was the expensive-looking furniture, giving the impression that Assad was planning to stay in power for a long time.
Returning to his palace, a doctor’s operating room and a barber’s room were set up, complete with a chrome and leather presidential barber’s chair.
In another location there was a library so large that it required a rotating ladder. Books such as fairy tales for young children and guides to Uruguay, Croatia and Sudan still line the wooden walls.
A copy of Michael Moore’s “Hey, Where’s My Country?” Anthropologist Sue Black’s All That Remains, a memoir about her experiences working in war and disaster areas, was also apparently on Assad’s reading list.
Now that he is gone, the reality of what happened under his rule is being exposed. While the Assad family lived a life of luxury, the Assad regime imprisoned, tortured, and murdered thousands of its citizens.
Richard Engel reported from Damascus and David Hodari from London.
