Families Of Senior Figures In The Assad Regime Are Fleeing Syria

Activists say that somewhere between 200 and 1,300 were killed in the chemical weapons attack on Wednesday near Damascus. Syria has one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons of any country

Families Of Syrian Brass ‘Fleeing’ Ahead Of Feared US Strike -- Times of Israel

Exit of regime chiefs’ relatives under way via Latakia Airport, Israeli TV reports; US said likely to warn Israel before attack on Assad

The families of senior figures in the Assad regime were fleeing Syria on Monday night, ahead of an anticipated US-led strike against regime targets, Israeli Television reported.

“The families of some of the heads of the regime” were flying out of Latakia Airport in the west of the country, Channel 2 News said. The airport happens to be named after President Bashar Assad’s late older brother, Bassel, who had been slated to take over as president from their father, Hafez Assad, but was killed in a car accident in 1994.

Israeli media Monday night assessed that the likelihood of a US-led strike on Assad regime targets was all but certain in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack last Wednesday in which the regime killed hundreds of civilians outside Damascus. The Channel 2 report said that the US was believed likely to give Israel advance warning of any such strike, to enable Jerusalem to prepare for any repercussions.

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My Comment: If true, this tells me that someone has given the Syrian regime a "heads-up" on US actions in the next few weeks .... my money is on the Russians who are passing this intelligence. On a side note .... I am surprised that these families are still living in Syria. If I was a top official in Syria, my priority would have been to evacuate my family when the civil war escalated to Homs and Aleppo last year.