Assad says he didn’t plan to flee Syria, according to presidency Telegram account

Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s departure from the country was unplanned, according to a statement posted Monday on the Syrian Presidency Telegram account, purporting to be from Assad.

Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s departure from the country was unplanned, according to a statement posted Monday on the Syrian Presidency Telegram account, purporting to be from Assad. The statement claims Assad moved to Russia’s airbase in Syria’s Hmeimim on the morning of Sunday, December 8, and Russia asked him to evacuate when the base came under attack. It’s unclear if Assad still controls the Telegram account. If the statement is authentic, it would mark the first time he has publicly commented on events since his regime fell this month. “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,” the statement from the Syrian Presidency account on Telegram said. The statement also claims Assad learned after he arrived at Hmeimim airbase that “the last army positions had fallen.” “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. This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions,” the statement said.