'Planned To Keep Fighting, But...' Bashar Al-Assad's First Statement After Fleeing Syria

Bashar Al-Assad said that at no point did he consider stepping down or seeking refuge and added that only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.

In his first statement after fleeing from Syria, ousted leader Bashar Al-Assad said that he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus, but the Russians military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.

Assad, in a statement on his Facebook page, said that he left Damascus on the morning of Deccember 8, hours after the insurgents stormed capital Damascus.

"First, my departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th December 2024," Assad said in a written statement from Russia.

He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting.

"As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Lattakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations. Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen," Assad said.

He said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of December 8 to Russia.

"As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes. With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December," the former Syrian president said. 

In the first address after fleeing Syria, Bashar Al-Assad said that at no point did he consider stepping down or seeking refuge and added that only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.

"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. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught," he stated in the letter.

"Furthermore, the person who has never abandoned the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, nor betrayed his allies who stood by him, cannot possibly be the same person who would forsake his own people or betray the army and nation to which he belongs," he added.

The Russian foreign ministry on December 8 announced that Bashar al-Assad had stepped down from office and left the country after issuing orders for a peaceful transfer of power. Shortly after, news agency TASS quoting Kremlin sources said that the former president and his family have been granted asylum in the Russian capital Moscow.