The President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, in a statement given to him on Monday, said that he did not intend to leave the country amid rebel advances towards Damascus, but that Russia had evacuated him.
“At no time during these events, I did not consider resigning or seeking refuge, and no person or party made such a proposal,” al-Assad said, in a statement or -confirmed posted on the Syrian leadership's Telegram channel.
“I did not intend to leave Syria and it did not happen in the last hours of the battles as some said,” said al-Assad, who took power in Syria in 2000 after the death of his father.
He stayed in Damascus until the early hours of December 8 before moving to a Russian base in the coastal city of Latakia “to monitor combat operations.”
After that, there was an intense attack on the Hmeimim base with drone strikes, which forced Moscow to organize an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of December 8.
Syrian rebels took control of Damascus last week, after making major territorial gains against al-Assad's forces in a lightning offensive in the war-torn country.
A man burns a photo of Bashar al-Assad near Syria's border with Lebanon. The rebels launched a shock offensive across Syria in late November, ousting al-Assad and ending more than half a century of Assad family rule. Images by Sally Hayden/SOPA via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
