As his regime nears collapse, Syria's ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, has become detached from reality and addicted to video games.

Axar.az reports that the Atlantic magazine has published information about this.

“Palace insiders say he has repeatedly rejected diplomatic support from regional and Western powers that could have kept him in power. He sits in the palace all day playing Candy Crush and other video games.

Even in recent days, foreign ministers have called him to offer him deals, and he has not answered the calls. Assad has refused to compromise or accept any limits on his power.

The most memorable example of Assad’s folly came during the first Trump administration. In 2020, Washington sent two officials, Roger Carstens and Kash Patel, to Lebanon to find Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2012 and was believed to be in the hands of the Assad regime. Abbas Ibrahim, then head of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate, brought the two men to Damascus, where they met with Ali Mamlouk, one of Assad’s top security officials.

Carstens says the Americans raised the subject that Tice raised, and Mamluk responded that the US must lift sanctions and withdraw its troops from Syria before discussing any demands.

The US government agreed to these conditions in exchange for proof that Taiz was alive. Assad, however, surprised everyone by saying that there would be no agreement or negotiations. He cited Trump's earlier description of him as an animal as the reason, the publication writes.