SYRIA’S

Bashar al-Assad has been told by his advisers to retreat to the safety of a seven-storey bunker, according to reports.

The secret subterranean complex in the capital, Damascus, is designed to withstand chemical and conventional attacks. The bunker – dubbed ‘Assad’s Neighbourhood’ – also stops the president being detected by US spy satellites, and is believed to have a network of escape routes into the surrounding countryside.