Abandoned Mansions and Facebook Photos: Reporting on the Top Officials Who Fled Syria

A photograph of a lavish Damascus home, posted to a neighborhood Facebook page. The name of a small village on Syria’s coast mentioned in a sanctions document. A phone number, with a Russian country code, discreetly shared with reporters.

Over ten months, The New York Times gathered these and other fragments to uncover what happened to some of the high-ranking Syrian officials who, for years, helped former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime carry out its atrocities. After the government’s fall in December and with accountability looming, most of these officials fled or hid. Rumors swirled in their wake, leading to many dead ends. But in some cases, these clues brought us directly to their doorsteps.

All these fragments were combined with additional journalistic legwork: document sifting, lead chasing, door knocking and conversations with dozens of sources, including members of the former regime, their family members and staff, Western officials and legal experts. While some Assad henchmen have come into clearer focus, others remain enigmas, and our reporting continues.

As we embarked on this investigation, we were immediately faced with a challenge: whom to focus on when so many played a role in the Assad regime’s brutal 13-year civil war that left half a million people dead. We began with a list of hundreds of individuals facing sanctions by the United States, the European Union and Britain for their connection to crimes committed under the Assad regime.

We gathered background information on these officials by referencing reporting from media outlets and nongovernmental organizations, including Syrian Free Press, Zaman Al Wasl, the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison and Pro Justice.