Bashar al-Assad is reportedly spending his exile enjoying video video games. His interest of alternative units up an surprising distinction along with his earlier public feedback on gaming.
Assad, who succeeded his father as President of Syria in 2000, was ousted in December 2024 after a insurgent offensive seized Damascus. Earlier than his fall, he had survived greater than a decade of struggle with backing from Iran and Russia. He faces extensively documented accusations of state torture, mass deaths in detention, and indiscriminate assaults on civilians, amongst different struggle crimes. Regional dynamics stay unsettled underneath the post-Assad order, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, with current reviews pointing to renewed political issues and sectarian tensions, in addition to cautious diplomatic resets with neighbors.
Assad’s Moscow Exile Routine Reportedly Consists of Hours of On-line Gaming
Because the insurgent troops entered Damascus in December 2024, Assad fled to Moscow, the place he was granted political asylum—which Russian President Vladimir Putin personally accredited, in response to prior statements from Kremlin officers. Now, a brand new report by German outlet Die Zeit states that the ousted politician is spending his days enjoying on-line video video games in a luxurious high-rise within the Russian capital. Along with his gaming periods, that are mentioned to run for hours every day, he typically visits a shopping center positioned under his condo, as per the identical supply.
Assad As soon as Claimed He Would not Play On-line Video games
Past stating that he performs online games, the report doesn’t go into any additional particulars on Assad’s gaming habits. Nevertheless, the mere implied existence of such habits already stands in stark distinction to what Assad mentioned almost twenty years in the past, when he rejected the notion of being a gamer throughout a February 2007 interview with Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer. Requested whether or not he performs something on-line, he responded by saying he makes use of the web “for data, not for video video games,” in response to an Engadget transcript of the trade.
The now-60-year-old Assad had loads of time to rethink his stance on gaming within the 18 years that adopted. His political asylum in Russia was given on “humanitarian” grounds, Russian information businesses reported in 2024. In response to an April 2025 assertion by Russian Ambassador to Iraq Elbrus Kutrashev, Assad’s was conditioned on him agreeing to utterly withdraw from political actions and media appearances. Given how he has been out of the general public eye since fleeing Damascus, he’s seemingly complying with these situations, which additionally secured asylum for his speedy household.
In spring 2025, Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa mentioned he demanded Assad’s extradition from the Russian government. The request, introduced as a situation for permitting Moscow’s navy presence in Syria, was refused.
