Al-Arabiya, Saudi Arabia, Originally posted in Arabic on January 22
The fact that Russia is Bashar al-Assad’s last standing lifeline is no secret. Moscow has gone to great lengths to protect Assad’s regime in the last couple of years. Its most recent assistance, in the form of an on-the-ground campaign on Syrian soil, has cost the Kremlin many lives and dollars.
Interestingly, a close associate of President Bashar al-Assad recently revealed that the relationship between the Syrian president and Moscow might be closer than it seems. The source disclosed that Assad’s eldest son, Hafez, has been sent to learn Russian in Moscow. Since coming back to Syria, the 14-year-old boy has supposedly become fully conversational in Russian. Meanwhile, his younger brother, who is only 11-years-old, has been sent to a similar program in China.
It is unclear why the Syrian president wants his children to speak Russian and Chinese – two languages that are barely spoken or used in Syria. The only places where Russian can still be used are former Soviet countries in the Middle East.
Perhaps the president was only interested in sending his children away from the battle scenes of Damascus and simply used the language training programs as an excuse. But if not, this is a very curious decision made by a Russian-backed leader who is struggling to keep his regime intact. – Ahed Fadel