Reports claimed that former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was hospitalized after being poisoned while in Russia.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human rights watchdog, said al-Assad went to an emergency room in critical condition on September 20th.
“He was poisoned while at home in a villa near Moscow that the report claims is heavily guarded by Russian authorities,” the New York Post stated.
al-Assad was granted political asylum in Russia after being deposed last year.
Former Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad nearly dies from suspected poisoning in Russia https://t.co/IgachqTnzR pic.twitter.com/tfeifVQNMR
— New York Post (@nypost) October 4, 2025
More from the New York Post:
His movements are restricted, but al-Assad has had many visitors to the villa.
“Whether the poisoning was a result of confusion or more, no one knows,” reads the report. “When Bashar al-Assad was admitted to the hospital, he was admitted in an emergency room and in critical condition in intensive care in a private hospital in or near the Moscow suburbs.
“Only the party that carried out the operation knows whether it was to kill Bashar al-Assad or to embarrass the Russian government,” the report adds.
Sources claim the Russia government had nothing to do with the poisoning, according to the report, which suggested “it may have been intended to implicate the Russian government,” and to show “that President Putin is incapable of protecting him.”
Russian officials remain mum on the matter.
Daily Mail reports that authorities now in power in Syria have demanded al-Assad’s extradition, which Russia has refused.
Bashar al-Assad was reportedly poisoned in Moscow
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) stated that the former Syrian dictator was subjected to an attempted poisoning while in the Russian capital.
According to a "well-informed source" cited by the organization, the… pic.twitter.com/2GH3i61mdE
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 2, 2025
Daily Mail noted:
Putin personally granted asylum to Assad along with members of his family and regime associates.
Assad, 60, has not been seen in public since arriving in Russia and is assumed to be kept under close guard by Russian secret services.
There is so far no independent evidence of Assad’s poisoning.
ADVERTISEMENTAn earlier report after Assad had been in Russia less than one month said that he ‘complained to his security about feeling unwell and having trouble breathing’.
However, this account was not confirmed.
The U.S. state department estimates that the former dictator’s family is worth $2billion, with their wealth concealed in numerous accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
He, his British wife and their three adult children left behind their Syrian palaces and began a new life in Moscow when Putin granted them asylum in December.
