Reuters quoted two Syrian sources as saying, “There is a very high possibility that former regime president Bashar al-Assad was killed in a plane crash, as it is not understood why his plane suddenly changed its course and disappeared from the map,” according to data from the Flight Radar website. The specialist in monitoring the movement of flights.

A Syrian source added to Reuters that Assad’s plane had disappeared from the radar, explaining that “the transmitter may have been turned off, but the most likely possibility is that the plane was shot down.”

Assad's flight from Damascus

A Syrian Airlines plane took off from Damascus International Airport, today, Sunday, at a time when opposition forces began taking control of the capital, according to data from the “Flight Radar” website.

The plane was on its way to the Syrian coast, the stronghold of the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs and the headquarters of the Russian military base, but it turned around and headed in the opposite direction and then disappeared from the map.

Reuters was unable to confirm who was on board this plane.

Reuters previously reported, quoting two Syrian officers, that Assad left Damascus for an unknown destination, early on Sunday morning.

The Jerusalem Post also reported, citing a senior Israeli official, that Assad had gone to the Russian military base on the Syrian coast, and that he was planning to travel to Russia.

The British newspaper The Guardian reported on Sunday that Anwar Gargash, the political advisor to the President of the UAE, refused to answer a question about whether Assad had gone to his country.

Source: Reuters