Body doubles, decoy choppers & disappearing jets… exactly how DID Putin sneak Assad out of Syria with moments to spare?

SMUGGLING tyrant Bashar al-Assad out of Syria could have involved body doubles and decoy helicopters.

As rebels swept in, Russian spies extracted the dictator out of the country after Vladimir Putin personally approved the last-minute evacuation.

Much of the dash for freedom remains a mystery as Assad kept the escape a secret from his closest friends and advisers, in case it was leaked to his enemies.

He lied to his office on Saturday that he was going home after work - even encouraging his commanders to keep fighting as Russia was coming to help.

But the leader instead went to the airport with staff leaving pots bubbling on the stove as he stealthily fled the country.

Assad was then flown out of Syria on a plane which had its transponder switched off to avoid any kind of tracking, Bloomberg reported.

The blood-soaked butcher reportedly confided in almost no one about his plans to flee Syria as his reign collapsed.

So how did Assad manage to flee the country with moments to spare before the rebels stormed in?

Security expert Will Geddes said he could have used body doubles and a number of other subterfuges to assist his escape.

He told The Sun: "President Assad would have, no doubt, had an emergency extraction plan already in play - this would have been planned for many, many years."

Geddes added that Assad's team would have wanted to send rebels on a "wild goose chase" as they evacuated their man.

He said: "They could have a presidential car, his favourite Limo, whatever it might be, driving off into the opposite direction in Damascus, with someone sat in the back that looks like his wife, looks like him, or looks like a family member.

"You want to send them [rebels] scattered in a multitude of different directions.

"You will do whatever you can to confuse the enemy, confuse their intelligence networks, to dispute any reported sightings in various different forms."

'Sacrificial gesture'

Assad could have even left a "sacrificial gesture" behind, like gold bars, to slow the rebels down and cause them to fight amongst themselves.

Geddes said Assad would have spent the last few days in his presidential palace overseeing the evacuation of his family, wealth, and most prized possessions.

He said: "In Assad's case he had a well executed, well planned extraction plan."

Geddes said Assad's evacuation plan would likely had have steps to it which escalated as the rebels got closer.

Geddes said: "You may already be moving gold bars, money, jewellery, valuables of various types out of the country well in advance."

That would even include pets.

He said: "You know any kind of mercenary, any kind of private operator security operator, is not going to be that heartless that you can't take Fido, who's been your family friend for the last 12 years."

What evacuees could carry on their person would be the very last of Assad's belongings that would likely ever leave Syria.

Geddes said Assad would have hidden money in a Swiss bank account and prepared an escape fund that he could dip into for bribes if they came across enemy fighters.

He said: "The team obviously would need to look at ensuring that they can get through various different checkpoints or certain areas where problems may occur.

"It depends on whether you actually want to use force to potentially prevail, or whether you may say 'right, here you go, guys, here's $50,000. Keep your mouth shut. You never saw us'."

Assad's presidential protection likely included the best troops he could get to protect him.

Geddes said: "He may have also acquired foreign former members of special forces, they could be from the US or could be from the UK, could be from anywhere, people who will have extensive experience in these fields.

"They'd probably have surplus security which the Russians would have already documented, tagged, vetted, ensured that they knew who they were.

"They're not going to introduce a threat as to the protection of the Presidential palace or his personal belongings, or those of his wife and his family, they would be at the mercy of the rebels."

The evacuation team would have prepared basic necessities like food, water, and appropriate clothing.

Assad would have then been moved by helicopter to an airport so he wouldn't get caught in heavy traffic on the streets of Damascus, Geddes said.

Decoy helicopters would have flown off in different directions to divert attention away from the one carrying Assad.

At the airport would be a plane fuelled and waiting likely on a private runway so it could take off whenever.

Geddes said Assad would have shopped around to countries to try and find the best asylum deal possible.

Reuters reports that Assad tried to get asylum in the UAE, but the country denied him as it was worried about blowback from the US.

Putin's spies are alleged to have organised the extraction - but the Russian dictator has no intention of meeting him now he is in exile.

Assad could have even used secret tunnels to escape from his presidential palace.

Rebels inside the Damascus home of Assad's brother Maher found tunnels and a living quarter underneath.

A fully kitted-out kitchen complete with Pepsi cans and Tetley tea, a modern sitting room and bathroom, and discarded shopping bags could be seen in the unsettling clip.

Maher wound up flying a helicopter himself to Iraq as he also fled the country.

Russian 'disinformation' flight

Mysteriously, a flight was recorded leaving Damascus on Sunday morning through the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

The plane was spotted heading to the Mediterranean Sea, before it made a bizarre U-turn near Homs, descended, and then vanished off the map.

The plane was an Ilyushin Il-76T - a type of plane used by the Russian military.

The flight dropped off radar at 5.29am - 40 minutes after takeoff - with altitude data showing it made a descent into a field.

Rumours into Assad's whereabouts swirled online when it disappeared - with some believing that it had been shot down.

In a statement, Flightradar24 said the plane's signal was lost near Homs - but that could be because of an older transponder.

They said: "The aircraft was flying in an area of GPS jamming, so some data might be bad."

It was eventually confirmed that the Syrian dictator had made it safely to Russia after Putin's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a humiliating statement on behalf of the dictator.

The Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security claimed on X that Russia "hid their trail" in assisting al-Assad's escape by circulating fake claims that he died in a crash.