Inside Assad's luxury palace, a modernist sanctuary from the Syria he tore apart

On the outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus, NBC News got a look at former President Bashar al-Assad's palaces.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The bedroom featured soft recessed lighting illuminating elegant cornicing and the dimpled headboard of the bed below. The mattress, though, was resting on the coffee table in the middle of the room. 

Guarded by bulletproof doors several inches thick, this was the master bedroom in one of the palaces owned by Syria's former president, Bashar al-Assad, and his wife, Asma, until they were forced to flee to Russia this week with their adult children.

Assad was swept from power by a lightning-quick rebel offensive after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule, and the opulent trappings of a regime that inflicted terror and poverty on Syria's people are now clear for all to see.

A hallway lined with marble and ornate chandeliers. Ted Turner / NBC NewsWhen NBC News gained access to the squat, modernist palace perched in the mountains above the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday, it was relatively calm, despite the appearance of having been robbed. Fighters from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, which led the rebel overthrow, stood guard, checking cars in a bid to put a stop to any more thefts from the building that was Assad’s main residence until he was forced into exile.

Inside, doors opened with a hefty sweep into a cavernous, marble-lined dining room with a table that can comfortably seat three on each end. The chandeliers above appeared to be the finest crystal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-bashar-al-assad-palace-damascus-rebels-civil-war-rcna183924

---