Who was in ousted Syrian President Assad's inner circle and where are they now?

BEIRUT (AP) — After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns.

For more than five decades, the Assad family has ruled Syria with an iron grip, locking up those who dared question their power in the country's notorious prisons, where rights groups say inmates were regularly tortured or killed.

The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham insurgent group — which led anti-government fighters who forced Assad from power — has vowed to bring those who carried out such abuses to justice.

“We will go after them in our country,” said HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. He added that the group will also ask foreign countries to hand over any suspects.

But finding those responsible for abuses could prove difficult.

Some 8,000 Syrian citizens have entered Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing in recent days, according to two Lebanese security officials and a judicial official, and about 5,000 have left the neighboring country through Beirut’s international airport. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Most of those are presumed to be regular people, and Lebanon’s Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said earlier this week that no Syrian official entered Lebanon through a legal border crossing.

In an apparent effort to prevent members of Assad's government from escaping, the security officials said a Lebanese officer who was in charge of Masnaa was ordered to go on vacation because of his links to Assad's brother.

But Rami Abdurrhaman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says several senior officers have nonetheless made it to neighboring Lebanon using travel documents with fake names.

Here's a look at Assad and some of the officials in his inner circle.

The Western-educated ophthalmologist initially raised hopes that he would be unlike his strongman father, Hafez, when he took power in 2000, including freeing political prisoners and allowing for a more open discourse.

But when protests of his rule erupted in March 2011, Assad turned to brutal tactics to crush dissent. As the uprising became an outright civil war, he unleashed his military to blast opposition-held cities, with support from allies Iran and Russia.

He has fled to Moscow, according to Russian state media.

The younger brother of the ousted president was the commander of the 4th Armored Division, which Syrian opposition activists have accused of killings, torture, extortion and drug trafficking, in addition to running its own detention centers. He is under U.S. and European sanctions. He disappeared over the weekend, and Abdurrhaman said he made it to Russia.

Last year, French authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Maher Assad, along with his brother and two army generals, for alleged complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, including in a 2013 chemical attack on rebel-held Damascus suburbs.

Mamlouk was a security adviser to Assad and former head of the intelligence services. He is wanted in Lebanon for two explosions in the northern city of Tripoli in 2012 that killed and wounded dozens.

Mamlouk is also wanted in France after a court convicted him and others in absentia of complicity in war crimes and sentenced them to life in prison. The trial focused on the officials’ role in the 2013 arrest in Damascus of a Franco-Syrian man and his son and their subsequent torture and killing.

Abdurrahman said Mamlouk fled to Lebanon, and it is not clear if he is still in the country under the protection of Hezbollah.

Al-Hassan was the commander of the 25th Special Missions Forces Division and later became the head of the Syrian Special Forces, which were key to many of the government's battlefield victories in the long-running civil war, including in Aleppo and the eastern suburbs of Damascus that long held off Assad's troops.

Al-Hassan is known to have close ties to Russia and was praised by Russian President Vladimir Putin during one of his visits to Syria. Al-Hassan's whereabouts are not known.

Luka, head of the General Security Directorate intelligence service, is not well known among the wider public but has played a major role in the crackdown against the opposition, mainly in the central city of Homs that was dubbed the “capital of the Syrian revolt.”

Luka has been sanctioned by the U.S. and Britain for his role in the crackdown. It's not clear where he is.

Khalil, whose whereabouts are also unknown, was head of the Air Force Intelligence service and is widely known as the “Butcher of Daraya” for allegedly leading a 2012 attack on a Damascus suburb of the same name that killed hundreds of people.

— Retired Maj. Gen. Jamil Hassan, former head of the Air Force Intelligence service, is also suspected of bearing responsibility for the attack in Daraya. Hassan was among those convicted in France this year along with Mamlouk.

— Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ali Abbas and Maj. Gen. Bassam Merhej al-Hassan, head of Bashar Assad’s office and the man in charge of his security, are accused of human rights violations.

In this image from video provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Defense Minister Ali Abbas gives a televised statement about the fall of Bashar Assad’s government, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (SANA via AP)

FILE - Bashar Assad, right, and his brother Maher Assad, center, stand during the funeral of their father, former President Hafez Assad, in Damascus, Syria, June 13, 2000. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this photo released Nov. 9, 2019, by the official news agency SANA, then-President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA FILE via AP, File)

FILE - Then-President Bashar Assad, center, waves to his supporters at a polling station during presidential elections in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus, May 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

FILE - An image of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad covers the facade of a provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam, File)

“The Great American State Fair” is a series of concerts, exhibits, tributes and other programs scheduled to take place June 25 to July 10 on Washington’s National Mall. It was organized by Freedom 250, which is billed as a nonpartisan organization but was launched last year by President Donald Trump and is headed by a Trump State Department appointee from his first term, the businessman-philanthropist Keith Krach.

On Wednesday, Freedom 250 announced that Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride would be among the musical performers, some of whom were slated for an “I Love the ’90s” show on June 26.

But by late Thursday, Michaels, the Commodores and McBride had dropped out, as did Morris Day and Young MC.

Michaels and others have said that they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight. In an Instagram post, Michaels wrote that he had thought his show would be a chance to “honor our veterans, active military, first responders, teachers and hardworking Americans from all walks of life.” But he concluded that the event had “evolved into something much more divisive” and referred to “threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable.”

McBride also issued an Instagram statement, saying she had been “presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.” Young MC expressed similar sentiments in an Instagram post, while the Commodores released a brief statement saying they chose “not to publicly affiliate with any single political party.”

As of Friday morning, performers still expected to appear include Flo Rida, Vanilla Ice and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli, the Grammy-winning duo from the late 1980s-early 1990s who were discredited after reports that Morvan and fellow front man Rob Pilatus did not sing on the records and lip-synced on stage. (The actual singers, including sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco, told The Associated Press that they were not invited).

Morvan told the AP in an emailed statement that he was "here to entertain and unite people, not divide them.”

"Let’s celebrate life & music and take a trip down memory lane,” he said.

A representative for Vanilla Ice told the AP in an email that the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper was “proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!"

"Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate USA’s Birthday and our Freedom!” the representative said.

A Flo Rida representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Freedom 250 organizers have yet to respond to AP requests for comment. Freedom 250 spokeswoman Rachel Reisner told The New York Times in a statement that “Freedom 250 is focused on our signature celebrations and events that honor our history and engage all Americans.”

Trump, a Republican, has some prominent supporters in the entertainment industry, including Sylvester Stallone and Nicki Minaj, but many more have shunned him. Taylor Swift, Robert De Niro,Billie Eilish and Bruce Springsteen are among those who have endorsed Democrats and/or condemned Trump, while Elton John, Kenny Loggins and others have objected to their music being used for Trump rallies or Trump videos. After the president ousted the leadership last year at the Kennedy Center and had his own name placed on the building’s facade, numerous artists, including Bela Fleck, Renée Fleming and Issa Rae, called off scheduled appearances.

FILE - Martina McBride performs, Oct. 28, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

FILE - Young MC performs during the "I Love The 90's" tour on Aug. 7, 2022, at RiverEdge Park in Aurora, Ill. (Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 26, 1992 file photo, Fabrice Morvan, left, and Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli perform during the taping of the Arsenio Hall Show in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Craig Fujii, File)

FILE - Singer Brett Michaels performs at halftime of an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz., Sept. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)