Ousted President of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad has issued a first press statement since he fled to Moscow, the Russia capital after the fall of Damascus, saying, he never abandoned his fighters, that the opposition rebels closed in on him while he was inside Russia military base in Syria and the leadership of Russia military ordered his evacuation as the Moscow army base came under heavy drones attack.

According to Bashar Al-Assad, he did not leave Syria on Sunday morning, that he was hiding in the Russia military base till evening when he was eventually evacuated.

The deposed Syrian president has defended his rule and denied planning his departure as armed opposition fighters closed in on Damascus earlier this month.

A statement said to be written by al-Assad and released on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel on Monday presented an account of how and why the former president fled Syria.

“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, December 8, 2024.”

The statement added that as rebel fighters, who al-Assad described as “terrorist forces”, entered the capital, he moved to a Russian base on the coastal city of Latakia to “oversee combat operations”.

Adding, the Russia military base came under drone attacks from armed opposition fighters.

“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 8 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.”

We are yet to independently verified the statement posted on the Syria President verified Telegram channel’s account. Al-Assad has not made any media appearances since he was granted asylum with his family by President Vladimir Putin led Russia.

Groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had launched a lightning offensive from the northwestern province of Idlib in November, taking city after city from government forces with little resistance.

Reuters reported that the vault of Syria’s central bank holds nearly 26 tons of gold, the same amount it had at the start of its bloody civil war in 2011, even after the chaotic fall of Bashar al-Assad’s despotic regime, the media cited four people familiar with the situation.

“But the country has only a small amount of foreign currency reserves in cash, the same people said. Syria’s gold reserves stood at 25.8 tons in June 2011, according to the World Gold Council, which cites the Central Bank of Syria as its data source. That is worth $2.2 billion at current market prices, according to Reuters calculations”, Reuters reported on Monday.

Last Monday, rescuers from the Syrian White Helmets said they were searching for secret doors or basements in Saydnaya prison, looking for any detainees who might be trapped. More prisoners looking malnourished were seen in videos being helped out.

“We are working with all our energy to reach a new hope, and we must be prepared for the worst,” the organisation said in a statement.

Aida Taha, aged 65, said she had been “roaming the streets like a madwoman” in search of her brother, who was arrested in 2012.

She said she went to Saydnaya, where she believes some prisoners are still underground.

“The prison has three or four underground floors,” Taha said. “They say that the doors won’t open because they don’t have the proper codes.

“We’ve been oppressed long enough, we want our children back,” she added.

Assad and members of his family arrived in the city on Sunday, a Kremlin source told the TASS news agency last Monday as reported.

“The source said: “Assad and his family members have arrived in Moscow. Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them asylum.”

Mr Assad left the Syrian capital of Damascus after his government fell following a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country – bringing his 24-year rule to an end.

He left after giving orders for there to be a peaceful transfer of power, the Russian foreign ministry said last Monday.

 
As Assad fled, footage circulating on social media showed families ransacking presidential palaces in Damascus, with some taking selfies in the grand settings, as thousands celebrated in the streets.

The Syrian regime had faced a battle on three fronts – Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) from the north, the Southern Front, and a Kurdish group in the east.

Syrian rebels, made up of the various opposition groups, said they were working to transition power to a new governing body with full executive powers.

“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” the coalition said in a statement, describing events as a new birth for “great Syria”.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al Jolani, who led the insurgency, declared “the future is ours” in a statement read out on Syrian state TV.

He said there was “no room for turning back” and his group was “determined” to continue on the path it started in 2011.

He later addressed a crowd inside the sprawling Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where he described the fall of Assad as a “victory to the Islamic nation”.

We had last two Sunday reported that the United States of America, US backed Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF and Turkey backed Islam led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS have pushed out Iran and Russia backed President Bashar Al-Assad from Syria, with US President-elect, Donald Trump calling President Joe Biden and other government officials at the Whitehouse, warmongers trying to cause World War 3, distancing USA from the civil crisis in Damascus.

Local media reported with videos that Christians in Damascus gathered at a church Saturday night to pray for guidance as the opposition Islamic and Kurdish rebels closed in on Damascus. Some of the local media added that the fall of Damascus could mark the end of a 2,000-year-old Christian presence in the city.

On Sunday early morning, Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Syria’s army command also notified officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s rule ended following a lightning rebel offensive, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move stated, according to Reuters. With Syrian rebels saying, Damascus is ‘now free of Assad.’

According to unverified information, the plane that might have been carrying Assad out of Damascus had gone into sharp descent and disappeared from the radars. There has been no official information.

But a check showed that as at on Sunday early morning, a Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flight radar website. The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

Details and verbatim of the press statement issued by the ousted Syria President, Bashar Al-Assad reads below in full:

“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. 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. 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 8 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.

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.”

“With the expansion of terrorism in Syria, and its arrival in the capital Damascus on the evening of Saturday, December 7, 2024, questions began to be raised about the fate and location of the president, amidst a torrent of confusion and stories far from the truth, which constituted support for the process of installing international terrorism concealed as a Syrian liberation revolution.

At a critical historical moment in the life of our nation, when truth should have a place, there is something that needs to be clarified through a brief statement. These circumstances and the subsequent complete cessation of communication for security reasons did not allow for a statement to be made, and its brief points do not replace the narration of the details of everything that happened, which I will address at a later time, when the opportunity arises.

First of all, I did not leave the country in a planned manner as was rumored, nor did I leave it during the last hours of the battles, but rather I remained in Damascus following up on my responsibilities until the early morning hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024. With the expansion of terrorism inside Damascus, I moved in coordination with my Russian friends to Latakia to follow up on the combat operations from there.

Upon arriving at the Hmeimim airbase in the morning, it became clear that the forces had withdrawn from all the battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen, with the deterioration of the field situation in that area increasing, and the attack on the Russian military base itself being escalated by drones.

In light of the impossibility of leaving the base in any direction, Moscow asked the base leadership to work on securing immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday, December 8, the day after the fall of Damascus, and after the fall of the last military positions and the subsequent paralysis of the rest of the state institutions.

During those events, the issue of asylum or resignation was not raised by me or by any person or party, and the only option presented was to continue fighting in defense of the terrorist attack.

In this context, I emphasize that whoever, since the first day of the war, refused to trade his country’s salvation for personal salvation, or to bargain with his people with various offers and temptations, is the same person who stood with the officers and soldiers of his army on the front lines, dozens of meters away from the terrorists in the hottest and most dangerous hotbeds of conflict, and is the same person who did not leave during the most difficult years of the war and remained with his family and people to face terrorism under bombardment and the danger of terrorists storming the capital more than once during fourteen years of war.

And whoever did not abandon the non-Syrian resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, and did not betray his allies who stood with him, cannot be the same person who abandons his people to whom he belongs, or betrays them and his army.

I have never been a person who seeks positions on a personal level, but rather I considered myself the owner of a national project that derived its support from a people who believed in it. I carried the certainty of the will of that people and their ability to preserve their state and defend its institutions and choices until the last moment.

With the fall of the state into the hands of terrorism, and the loss of the ability to provide anything, the position becomes empty and meaningless, and there is no meaning to remaining responsible in it. This does not mean in any way abandoning the authentic national affiliation to Syria and its people, a fixed affiliation that is not changed by position or circumstance, affiliation filled with hope that Syria will return free and independent.”