Mr Bashar Assad left his country so secretively that some of his aides remained in the palace hours after he had left, waiting for a speech that never came, the insider said. After midnight ...

On the road, the signposts of history tell the backstory. Hafez al-Assad, the father, ruled from 1970. The bullet holes give you a sense of how he's remembered. Then, in the year 2000, the son ...

the staff in the hilltop Presidential Palace prepared for a speech they hoped would lead to a peaceful end to the 13-year civil war. Aides to President Bashar al-Assad were brainstorming messaging ...