Assad’s regime collapsed faster than anyone had predicted. The sudden nature of its downfall left many scrambling for answers, and it seems no one was more unprepared than Assad himself.

Ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad has fled to Russia after Islamist rebels rolled into the capital Damascus and ended his despotic family’s 50-year reign of terror.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Russia on Sunday after rebels seized control of Damascus, Russian state media said—a pivotal moment in the years-long civil war against the regime that has controlled Syria since the 1970s.