Ousted Syrian president poisoned while exiled in Russia

Exiled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was hospitalized recently after being poisoned while hiding out in Russia, according to a human rights watchdog.

al-Assad, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was rushed to an emergency room on Sept. 20 in critical condition, but was released nine days later after receiving medical care, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights first reported Thursday.

He was poisoned while at home in a villa near Moscow that the report claims is heavily guarded by Russian authorities.

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.

al-Assad was ousted from power last December, after an Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, toppled his regime.

Amid the rebel assault, al-Assad assured his military that help was inbound from the Kremlin.

Not even 24 hours later, he fled Damascus with his wife and three children on a plane to Moscow.