Remarks attributed to al-Assad, launched by the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel, say state fell into ‘fingers of terrorism’.
Within the first public remarks attributed to Bashar al-Assad since he left Syria, the deposed Syrian president has defended his rule and denied planning his departure as armed opposition fighters closed in on Damascus earlier this month.
An announcement stated to be written by al-Assad and launched on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel on Monday introduced an account of how and why the previous president fled Syria.
“First, my departure from Syria was neither deliberate nor did it happen through the remaining hours of the battles, as some have claimed,” the assertion stated.
“Quite the opposite, I remained in Damascus, finishing up my duties till the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024.”
The assertion added that as insurgent fighters, who al-Assad described as “terrorist forces”, entered the capital, he moved to a Russian base on the coastal metropolis of Latakia to “oversee fight operations”.
However in response to the assertion, the bottom got here beneath drone assaults from armed opposition fighters.
“With no viable technique of leaving the bottom, Moscow requested that the bottom’s command organize a right away evacuation to Russia on the night of Sunday 8 December,” it learn.
“This befell a day after the autumn of Damascus, following the collapse of the ultimate navy positions and the ensuing paralysis of all remaining state establishments.”
The assertion has not been independently verified. Al-Assad has not made any media appearances since he was granted asylum along with his household by Russia.
Opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a lightning offensive from the northwestern province of Idlib in November, taking metropolis after metropolis from authorities forces with little resistance.
They reached Damascus within the early hours of December 8 and introduced the tip of greater than 50 years of the al-Assad household’s iron-fist rule over Syria.
Al-Assad’s presidency, which started after the demise of his father Hafez in 2000, noticed probably the most devastating wars of the twenty first century.
The battle began in 2011 as Syrians took to the streets to protest towards the federal government as a part of the “Arab Spring” pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Center East that 12 months.
Because the demonstrations had been met with a lethal crackdown by safety forces, the protest motion become an armed rebellion.
The warfare, which lasted greater than 13 years, fragmented the nation, killed a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals and displaced tens of millions.
Rights teams have accused al-Assad’s authoritarian authorities of perpetrating rampant human rights violations.
Opposition fighters and rights advocates have stated they found extra horrific abuses and indicators of torture and mass executions as they freed jails housing hundreds of detainees throughout Syria this month.
Tens of hundreds of Syrians believed to have been in authorities custody stay unaccounted for.
However in Monday’s assertion, attributed to “President Bashar al-Assad”, the previous president sounded unapologetic about his years in energy, saying he thought-about himself the “custodian” of a nationwide challenge backed by Syrians.
“I’ve carried an unwavering conviction of their will and skill to guard the state, defend its establishments, and uphold their decisions to the final second,” the assertion stated.
“When the state falls into the fingers of terrorism and the power to make a significant contribution is misplaced, any place turns into void of objective, rendering its occupation meaningless.”
