An Ilyushin Il-76 transport operated by Syrian Air disappeared from flight tracking, with former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad appearing shortly after in Russia.
The long-time president has reportedly fled Damascus, after a lightning advance by rebel fighters reached the outskirts of the capital city on 7 December. Assad had reportedly left Syria early in the day local time but his exact whereabouts were unknown.
Russian state media subsequently confirmed the ousted president’s arrival in Moscow on 8 December.
”Russia has granted Syria’s former President Bashar Assad and his family members asylum,” state news outlet Tass says, quoting unnamed Kremlin sources.
Throughout 7 December speculation had run rampant that Assad was aboard the missing Il-76 (registration YK-ATA) that departed Damascus at 1:55 UTC on the morning of 8 December. The jet was operating as Syrian Air flight 9218, according to tracking service FlightRadar24.
After take-off, the flight moved east toward the Syria-Iraq border, before swinging northeast toward Syria’s Mediterranean coast. Russia, whose military support was instrumental in saving the Assad government from rebel advances a decade ago, maintains a strategic naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.
No destination was listed for flight 9218 at its time of departure. Available flight tracking data shows the four-engined jet passing directly over the rebel-controlled city of Homs and continuing northeast, before abruptly reversing course as it reached Syria’s coastal mountain range.
The flight moved back toward Homs before disappearing from flight tracking at 2:32 UTC, less than an hour after take-off.
It is unclear if the aircraft merely stopped transmitting or if some unknown incident forced the jet down. Available data from tracking service FlightAware shows flight 9218 reached a maximum altitude of 23,650ft around 2:10 UTC, before moving into a steady descent.
The Syrian air force maintained an air base at Al-Qusayr in the vicinity of Syrian Air 9218’s last known position. That area is now within rebel-controlled territory and the state of the airfield is unknown.
Between 2:10 and 2:32 UTC, the flight logged a maximum descent rate of 2,429ft/min. During that time airspeed also rapidly diminished from a high of 442kt (819km/h) at 2:23 UTC to under 86kt by 2:31 UTC.
Data from the aircraft’s final 2min of flight shows a steady deceleration and loss of altitude. At its last known position, flight 9218 showed an altitude of 8,725ft but airspeed of just 34kt (64km/h).
FlightRadar24 has subsequently confirmed the Il-76 flight did take place and said it is confident the transmitted data “in general give a quite good indication of what happened with the aircraft”. The flight tracking service offered some possible explanations for the apparent disappearance of the jet.
“The aircraft was old with an older transponder generation, so some data might be bad or missing,” the company says. “The aircraft was flying in an area of GPS jamming, so some data might be bad.”
“We are not aware of any airports in the area where the signal was lost,” FlightRadar24 adds.
It still emains unclear if there was any firm connection between the flight and Assad’s escape to Russia. Rebel fighters in Damascus declared the city “free of Assad” on 7 December, according to the New York Times.
Russia’s embassy in Syria has urged its citizens to leave the country, acknowledging the “difficult military and political situation”.
“The Russian Embassy in Damascus reminds Russian citizens living in the [Syrian Arab Republic] of the possibility of leaving the country using commercial flights through operating airports,” the embassy said on 6 December.
US president-elect Donald Trump also reacted to the toppling of the Assad government, calling the rebel offensive “highly coordinated” in a post to social media site X on 7 December.
“Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years,” Trump says.
The incoming president’s comments came before the disappearance of both Assad and the Il-76 flight. Trump, who is not scheduled to be sworn in until 20 January, urged that Washington should not get involved in the developing situation.
“This is not our fight,” he wrote in his signature all capital lettering. “Let it play out. Do not get involved.”
Story updated on 8 December with confirmation of Bashar al Assad’s defection to Russia and arrival in Moscow.
