Bashar al-Assad’s flight coincided with the opening of the Assad family’s palaces to the public. Camera lenses and mobile phones documented what those homes contained, whether we are talking about artworks, personal portraits of Assad, or “tons” of molokhia stored in Bashar al-Assad’s kitchen.
Footage showed Syrians exploring the Presidential Palace and Hafez al-Assad’s home, moving through rooms and balconies, taking whatever they could carry. At the same time, the palace held “treasures”, many of which later vanished. Social media pages circulated photos of valuables and posted calls urging anyone who found something to hand it over to the competent authorities.
Little has reached us about the fate of the palace’s contents, except for four cars valued at $20 million that Ahmad al-Sharaa reportedly donated in an announcement on the sidelines of a fundraising event for the Syria Development Fund. The rest remains shrouded in ambiguity, much like the spacesuit of astronaut Mohammad Fares and a second suit belonging to Munir Habib, a backup astronaut.
The suit was seen outside the Assad residence on December 14, 2025, when journalist Ammar Abd Rabbo photographed it. He described it as being “at one of the entrances of Ibrahim Hanano Street”. The suit worn by Mohammad Fares (1951 to 2024) during his visit to the Soviet space station is part of Syria’s national heritage. Fares, a military pilot and Syria’s first astronaut, participated in the Syrian Soviet space mission in 1987 and spent eight days beyond our planet. He is widely regarded as a national symbol, yet Hafez al-Assad marginalized him, and that marginalization intensified after Fares supported the Syrian uprising until he died in Turkey.
Over time, the space mission became part of Syria’s national narrative. Fares’s name appeared in school textbooks and at public occasions, and the objects used in the mission became part of the country’s heritage. For instance, the capsule associated with the mission, which re-entered the atmosphere at a speed of 28,000 km/h toward the Soviet space station, was displayed at the War Museum in Damascus, next to the National Museum, under the Ministry of Defense. It was later moved to the new museum site at the former October War Panorama, where it remains today.
Fares’s wife, Hind Aqeel, told Daraj that the capsule is in terrible condition. When they asked why it was not being maintained, she said the answer they received was: “You can restore it yourselves”.
What stirred controversy was the disappearance of the two spacesuits that Abd Rabbo photographed in the street. Aqeel posted an appeal on social media demanding answers about the suits’ fate. Were they stolen? Were they taken by the authorities? No one knows.
Aqeel told Daraj: “This suit should be in a safe place, or in a museum, because it is part of the national heritage, and it can also support tourism. We asked many times about the suit after the fall of the regime, but we got no answer, and no one knows where it is”.
Hafez al-Assad sidelined Mohammad Fares. Although Fares was awarded the title “Hero of the Syrian Arab Republic”, Assad did not personally present it to him. Fares was kept out of public events as if he did not exist, in contrast to the recognition he received in the Soviet Union, where he was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1987 and the title Hero of the Soviet Union in the same year.
Fares also accused the Assad regime of trying to kill him to prevent his spaceflight. Alongside this marginalization, the regime made striking, contradictory moves. In 2014, it announced the establishment of a scientific body called the “Syrian Space Agency”, described as having legal personality and administrative and financial independence, and being linked to the Minister of Communications and Technology.
After the regime’s fall, the suits appeared in the street, and a story circulated claiming the astronauts had gifted them to Hafez al-Assad, who kept them on display in his home. Aqeel denies this, insisting that the Soviet Union had donated them to the War Museum for exhibition.
Abd Rabbo said that when he photographed the suits, he asked those nearby why they were in the street. He summarized their answers: “Some young men stole the two suits from Hafez’s home. When they reached the street and after carrying them and struggling with the weight, they put them on the ground waiting for a car or someone to help carry them. Then organized rebels arrived, stopped any looting, and left everything where it was. Six days later, the suits were still on the ground. As you can see in the photo, there is a table next to them and similar items”. Another photographer told Daraj that the suits were moved beside the People’s Palace, then taken inside.
We contacted Dr Mohammad al Asiri, head of the Syrian Astronomical Society, who said the suit is not merely a “technical material artifact”, but part of “Syria’s national scientific identity”. He explained that based on information available before the “liberation”, the suit was handed to the Syrian government after the astronaut returned from the mission. It was displayed with the spacecraft capsule in Damascus’s War Museum as part of a collection highlighting achievements in science and war.
Before the regime fell, the suits were moved to the October War Panorama and shown to students for a brief period alongside the suit of the backup astronaut, Mohammad Habib. Then, a few days after Mohammad Fares announced he was joining the revolution, the space suit was removed, along with all items pointing to the mission, whether technologies or even references in the curriculum. Al Asiri added: “We were forbidden, at the Syrian Astronomical Society, from mentioning Mohammad Fares or shedding light on the mission and commemorating it”.
Al Asiri said the suit’s fate after Assad’s fall is based on unofficial accounts and unconfirmed information. He noted that after the photo of the suit beside Hafez al-Assad’s home spread, “we tried to reach the house to retrieve it and preserve it under scientific standards, but we arrived too late. We were told by people and guards that some individuals had moved it to the presidential palace, with no official confirmation”.
The disappearance of Fares’s suit raises questions about the Damascus government’s ability to protect Syrian heritage. The National Museum in Damascus and the Historical Documents House were previously looted. Despite authorities announcing investigations and efforts to arrest suspects and hold them accountable, the question remains: why has there been such a failure to protect Syria’s antiquities and heritage?
We contacted Dr Anas Zidan, director general of the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, who confirmed that the suit is not held by the directorate, the museum, or any affiliated institutions, including the National Museum. We also tried, through several intermediaries inside Syria, to reach the People’s Palace and follow up on multiple stories and incidents suggesting the two suits are there. But we could not reach anyone responsible at the palace.
The question remains: are the suits inside the palace, or have they disappeared?
