One year after the overthrow of his regime in Syria, Bashar al-Assad is reportedly leaving politics firmly behind and attempting a return to his original profession as a doctor—this time from exile in Russia.

According to The Guardian, citing sources familiar with the family’s movements, the former Syrian president is attending ophthalmology classes in lecture halls in Moscow.

As a family friend who remains in contact with the Assads said, the former president “is learning Russian and refreshing his knowledge of ophthalmology.” According to the same source, this is a field that always interested him, and he is not returning to it for financial reasons, as he “obviously does not need the money.”

It is recalled that before the war in Syria began, Assad practiced his medical specialty intermittently in Damascus, with some suggesting that Russia’s wealthy elite could one day become his clientele.

A life of luxury but isolation

The Assad family is now said to be living an isolated and quiet life of luxury, mainly in Moscow and the United Arab Emirates. Friends of the family, sources in Russia and Syria, and media leaks paint a picture of the daily life of the once all-powerful family that ruled Syria with an iron fist.

According to two sources familiar with their living conditions, the Assads are likely residing in Rublyovka, one of Moscow’s most expensive and heavily guarded districts, known as a “haven” for the Russian elite. Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Kyiv in 2014, is also reportedly living in the same area.

Financial comfort and travel

Despite Western sanctions imposed in 2011 following the violent suppression of protests in Syria, the Assad family is not facing financial difficulties. A large part of their wealth was transferred in time to Moscow, where Western regulators could not “touch” it.

However, the family’s financial comfort is no longer accompanied by influence. According to The Guardian’s sources, the Assads have been completely cut off from both Syrian and Russian networks in which they once operated. Their sudden flight from Syria reportedly angered many former allies of the ex-president, while his Russian “handlers” are said to have barred him from contacts with senior figures of the former regime.

“It is a very quiet life,” said a family friend. “He has very little, if any, contact with the outside world. He communicates only with a few people who were part of his ‘court,’ such as Mansour Azzam (former minister of presidential affairs) and Yassar Ibrahim (his former financial adviser).”

The Kremlin no longer cares about Assad

A source close to the Kremlin said Assad is no longer considered important to Vladimir Putin or Russia’s political elite. “Putin has very little patience for leaders who lose power. Assad is no longer seen as a person of influence or even an interesting dinner guest,” the source said.

Thus, the former strongman of Damascus appears to have definitively entered a new, low-profile phase of life, far from centers of decision-making, with his only refuge being the medical profession he left behind decades ago.

His wife’s health crisis

Assad fled Damascus with his sons in the early hours of December 8, 2024, as Syrian rebels were approaching the capital from the north and south. They were met by a Russian military escort and transferred to the Russian air base at Hmeimim, from where they left the country by air.

Assad warned neither members of his extended family nor close allies of the regime about the impending collapse, essentially leaving them to fend for themselves.

In the first months after the Assads’ escape, former regime allies did not particularly concern Bashar. The family gathered in Moscow to support Asma, the British-born former first lady of Syria, who had suffered from leukemia for years and whose condition had become critical. Asma had been receiving treatment in Moscow before the fall of the Assad regime. According to a source familiar with details of her health, the former first lady has recovered following experimental treatment under the supervision of Russian security services.

Media blackout

With Asma’s health stabilized, the former dictator is now seeking to present his own version of events. He has arranged interviews with RT and with a popular right-wing American podcaster, but is awaiting approval from Russian authorities to appear in the media.

He may have to wait quite some time, however, as Russia is said to have blocked any public appearance by Assad. In a rare interview in November with Iraqi media about Assad’s life in Moscow, Russia’s ambassador to Iraq, Elbrus Kutrashev, confirmed that the former Syrian president has been banned from any public activity. “Assad may live here, but he does not have the right to engage in any media or political activity. Have you heard anything from him? You haven’t, because he is not allowed—but he is safe and alive,” Kutrashev said.

By contrast, the lives of the Assad children appear to be continuing with relatively minor upheaval as they adjust to a new reality as members of Moscow’s elite. A family friend who met some of the children a few months ago said they “are still in a kind of shock. They are just trying to get used to life without being the first family anymore.”

The only time the Assad family—without Bashar—appeared publicly after the fall of the regime was at the graduation ceremony of Bashar’s daughter, Zein al-Assad, on June 30, when she received a degree in International Relations from Moscow’s MGIMO University. A photo on MGIMO’s official website shows the 22-year-old Zein standing with other graduates. In a separate, blurry video from the event, members of the Assad family can be seen seated in the audience, including Asma and her two sons, Hafez, 24, and Karim, 21.

The Assad children also travel frequently to the United Arab Emirates, with Asma accompanying them on at least one of these trips. Leaked flight records seen by The Guardian, covering the period 2017–2023, show that the UAE had long become a favored destination for the Assad family, even while they were still in power. Karim and Hafez made repeated trips between Abu Dhabi, Moscow, and Syria, including flights in November 2022 and September 2023.