Deception and betrayal: Inside the final days of Assad regime

As rebels advanced toward the Syrian capital of Damascus on December 7, the staff in the hilltop Presidential Palace prepared for a speech they hoped would lead to a peaceful end to the 13-year civil war.

- BEN HUBBARD, FARNAZ FASSIHI, CHRISTINA GOLDBAUM & HWAIDA SAAD

Aides to President Bashar al-Assad were brainstorming messaging ideas. A film crew had set up cameras and lights nearby. Syria's state-run television station was ready to broadcast the finished product: An address by al-Assad announcing a plan to share power with members of the political opposition, according to three people who were involved in the preparation.

Working from the palace, al-Assad, who had wielded fear and force to maintain his authoritarian rule over Syria for more than two decades, had betrayed no sense of alarm to his staff, according to a palace insider whose office was near the president's.

The capital's defenses had been bolstered, al-Assad's aides were told, including by the powerful fourth armored division of the Syrian army, led by the president's brother Maher al-Assad, the insider said.

They had all been deceived.