Syrians explore Assad family's massive summer resort for first time

By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Umit Bektas

LATAKIA, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian cyclist Bassel Soufi rode his bike 40 km (25 miles) from the northwestern city of Latakia on Friday to visit the Assad family's private coastal resort as local residents strolled around the compound for the first time in decades.

After the family's brutal 54-year rule and a 13-year civil war, Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday in a generational change for the Middle East.

Since then, many of the properties belonging to Assad or his family have been looted or destroyed by Syrians looking to erase his legacy.

Among those was the family's massive summer resort in Burj Islam. The compound, boasting a white villa with balconies overlooking the Mediterranean, a private beach, several gardens, and a walking path, lay in disrepair on Friday after heavy looting and damage.

Windows were shattered and broken glass littered the floor, no furniture was left, while toilets, showers, lights and other items were all broken or smashed.

"I feel freedom for the first time in my life just to come here," Soufi, 50, said, arriving on his bicycle with his phone in hand to film the sea.

"I can't believe my eyes, they've built something that we didn't see anything like it in all my life," the former Syrian national team cyclist told Reuters, adding he believes the whole compound must now be for the people and not "for another president".

"Syrians, for a very long time, were unable to do anything they like. This is the first time for me," he said.

Following Assad's toppling, locals - mostly Syrian Turkmen driven out to nearby villages during the construction of the resort - entered the area for the first time since the Assad family built it 50 years ago.

"Everything he did he did with the people's money. If you look inside the villa it is ridiculous," said Sayit Bayirli, a fighter from the Free Syrian Army of Turkmen origin at the compound. He said the land on which the resort was built used to be olive groves.

"A few hours after Assad fell we came in... We don't want these views, these beautiful places to be damaged," he told Reuters, adding he wanted to see the new government implement a system where the property is given back to those who originally owned it.

Bayirli said Assad had removed his valuables from the villa by sea using small boats and that FSA intelligence showed his children were at the compound this summer.

"It was an incredible excitement, everyone was so happy to see the place after years," Bayirli said.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Bulent Usta and Umit Bektas; Editing by Toby Chopra)