Syria’s ousted president Bashar al-Assad said, in a statement attributed to him on Monday, that he did not plan to leave the country amid rebel advances towards Damascus but that Russia had evacuated him.
“At no point during these events, did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party,” said al-Assad, in an unverified statement posted on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel.
“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles as some have claimed,” added al-Assad, who took power in Syria in 2000 following his father’s death.
He stayed in Damascus until the early hours of December 8 before moving to a Russian base in the coastal city of Latakia “to oversee combat operations.”
Afterwards, the Hmeimim base came under intensified attack by drone strikes, prompting Moscow to arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of December 8.
Syrian rebels took control of Damscus last week, after they made major territorial gains against al-Assad’s forces in a lightning offensive in the war-torn country.
A man burns a picture of Bashar al-Assad close to Syria’s border with Lebanon. Rebels launched a shock offensive across Syria in late November, ousting al-Assad and ending more than half a century of the Assad family regime. Sally Hayden/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
