Bashar al-Assad trusted almost no one with his escape plans as his regime crumbled. Instead, his aides, officials and even family members were misled or left in the dark, sources familiar with the matter say.

Just hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad, in a meeting with about 30 military and security leaders at the Defense Ministry, assured the crowd that Russian military aid was coming and asked ground forces to stand down, said a commander who was present, but who wished to remain anonymous.

Civilian staff also knew nothing. Assad told his chief of staff that he was going home at the end of the work day, but he was actually going to the airport, one of his close aides revealed, according to British media.

He even told his media adviser, Buthaina Shaaban, to come to his house to help him write a speech, but when she arrived, the house was already empty, the same source added.

"Assad didn't even try to fight one last time. He didn't even rally his troops," said Nadim Houri, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative Institute. "He left his supporters to their own devices," he added.

Assad did not even inform his younger brother Maher, the commander of the Syrian army's elite 4th Armored Division, of his escape plan, according to three of his aides. Maher fled by helicopter to Iraq and then to Russia, a source said.

Neither were Assad's maternal cousins, Ehab and Eyad Makhlouf, informed of the fall of Damascus, according to a Syrian aide and a Lebanese security official. They tried to escape to Lebanon, but were attacked by rebels, killing Ehab and wounding Eyad.

Assad left Damascus by plane on Sunday, flying under the radar with his transponder turned off, two regional diplomats said. He flew to the Russian air base Hmeimim, the city of Latakia and then to Moscow. His wife Asma and their three children were already waiting for him in the Russian capital, according to three former close associates and a senior regional official.

Three members of Assad's inner circle claim he initially wanted to seek asylum in the United Arab Emirates, but the Emirates rejected him to avoid international pressure.

Videos of Assad's home, taken by rebels and citizens after they stormed the presidential compound, show him fleeing in a hurry. Footage shows cooked food and personal belongings left behind.

The dramatic escape marked the end of Assad's 24-year reign and half a century of uninterrupted power. He left his fate in the hands of his allies, but history will remember his flight as the last symbol of an era of brutal rule.