Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Syria’s regime-aligned elite has been stashing its
fortune abroad to prepare for a hasty exile, an opposition group said.

The Reform Party in Syria reported that at least 100 of Syria’s
financial elite have been moving their assets abroad to prepare for the
collapse of the regime of President Bashar Assad. RPS, based in Washington
and regarded as having access to intelligence in Syria, said leading members
of the regime were opening foreign back accounts, including in
Venezuela, through false names.

“In some instances Venezuelan fake passports were used provided by the Chavez government in return for major kickbacks,” RPS said on Nov. 28.

[On Dec. 15, at least 27 Syrian Army soldiers were said to have been killed in a rebel attack in the southern province of Dera. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 15 of the soldiers were killed in an attack by army deserters at a checkpoint.]

RPS, citing “reliable Western sources,” said Assad and his henchmen, were using fake Syrian passports to evade Western sanctions. The opposition group said the Assad family was using loyalists, including Saudi Arabian nationals, to transfer assets.

“Some of these individuals are wealthy Syrians — some holding Saudi citizenship — with major banking and hospitality European assets and
long-time residents of Europe with close ties to Gulf money and whose large
bank accounts do not raise any eyebrows,” RPS said.

The report was issued as fighting escalated between Assad forces and the
rebels, said to be bolstered by the desertion of at least 20,000 Sunni army
troops. In November the casualties in the fighting reached a ratio of
one-to-one.

RPS said the European Union and the United States have identified the
facilitators for the Assad regime. But Western governments were said to be
waiting until “zero hour” before releasing their identities.

“While many claim to stand by Assad until death, the reality is far from
the truth,” RPS said. “The top 100 men in the Assad regime will flee
Damascus on a moment notice to live in welcoming countries using funds
stashed for that eventuality.”

  Bashar Assad, Damascus, Exit strategy: Syria’s elite stash cash abroad in anticipation of regime’s collapse, Hugo Chavez, Reform Party of Syria, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Venezuela