In a statement Bashar al-Assad issued on Thursday, his first since fleeing to Russia over a week ago, he claimed that the departure was not premeditated. It should be said that Assad stayed in Damascus until the city fell, and he declared that the armed situation eventually made it impossible for him to remain in the country.
“The statement of Assad was released to the Telegram channel of the Syrian presidency, which explained that his exit was coordinated with Russian allies before its military lines collapsed. “My departure wasn’t pre-coordination and didn’t happen in the last hours of the battles as different people have said,” said Assad in his statement. “I remained in Damascus, fulfilling my duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024.”
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Assad said that he arrived at Lattakia, the Russian military base in Syria, to oversee the combat operations; it is here in Moscow that his evacuation to Russia was organized. “When I came in Khmeimim airbase that morning, we knew for a fact that our forces had lost all battle lines, the last positions had fallen,” he said. The base turned out to be the last refuge for Russians, as the situation had deteriorated, and drone attacks were raining down on the Russian base itself. With no other means of extraction available, evacuation was sought immediately from Russia on the evening of December 8, the day after Damascus fell.
He explained, “At no moment have I considered it feasible to resign or to seek refuge, nor was that the proposal someone made. The only option was the continuing struggle against the terrorist assault.” He also re-confirmed his long-held position – during the entire Syrian civil strife, he has denied the offers to leave his nation for selfish gain or otherwise compromise people.
Assad concluded: “Whosoever has taken any position away, it would become redundant when a state falls to terrorism where it cannot do anything meaningful at all.”