Syrians ransacked Bashar al-Assad’s residences in Damascus after he fled to Russia, as videos showed rebels and civilians touring the grounds of his former homes and gaining an insight into the toppled dictator’s luxurious lifestyle.
Children were seen running into Assad’s Al Rawda presidential palace as men walked out with furniture, according to a Reuters video. An armed man was seen carrying a rifle in the palace.
A video geolocated by CNN showed a woman touring the kitchen of a home in the Al Maliki neighborhood of Damascus that was described as a “presidential palace.”
The well-equipped kitchen included an industrial freezer and a pizza oven. The kitchen was still stocked with fruit, vegetables and fish — the abundance serving as a stark contrast in the country where starvation was used as a weapon of war and where nearly 13 million are food insecure, according to the United Nations.
A notebook in the kitchen showed a menu “for the madame” and “the boss” including notes on their culinary preferences, as well as recipes.
