Former Syrian President Bashar Assad issued his first statement from Moscow since the fall of his regime to the rebels in Syria.

• “My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed,” Assad claimed in his statement on Telegram today (Monday).
• “On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024,” he said.

• “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 Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen.”

• He added that he only left “following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions,” and after Russia requested that he leave.

• Assad further claimed that “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.”
• According to Assad, he “refused to barter the salvation of his nation for personal gain, or to compromise his people in exchange for numerous offers and enticements.”
• In addiiton, he claimed that he “stood alongside the officers and soldiers of the army on the front lines, just meters from terrorists in the most dangerous and intense battlefields.”
• Assad also stated that he, who “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.”

Source: Arutz Sheva