Syrian dictator Assad points astonishing first assertion since he was toppled: Tyrant insists he needed to maintain combating and divulges ‘fact’ of his Russian evacuation in on-line rant

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued his first statement since he was deposed by rebel groups and fled to Russia less than two weeks ago.

Assad, speaking from Moscow where he sought refuge, said that ‘at no time during the events that have taken place in Syria‘ did he intend to step down or flee, adding that he remained in the capital Damascus until the last possible moment.

He claimed to have fled in the early hours of December 8, hours before rebels from the Islamist group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other militias seized control of the capital.

In his statement, released on the official Syrian Presidential channel on the Telegram messaging account, Assad said he had decided to speak to ‘address a flood of misinformation and narratives far removed from the truth’.

‘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 8, December 2024. 

‘At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was in continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught,’ the former president declared.

He went on to paint himself as a dedicated leader and family man who remained in Syria throughout the civil war ‘alongside his people’ – even as his forces conspired with Russia’s armed forces, Hezbollah and various Iranian-backed militias to slaughter thousands of Syrians.

‘I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself as a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people, who believed in its vision,’ he insisted.

He concluded the statement saying he was ‘filled with hope that Syria will once again be free and independent’. 

Assad’s last-ditch evacuation from Syria saw him board his private jet and head for Russia’s Hmeimim air base on the country’s west coast using a ‘transponder trick’. 

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed how the presidential plane believed to be carrying Assad left Damascus airport in the early hours of Sunday morning. 

The plane headed towards the Mediterranean Sea before making a U-turn and disappearing from the map, presumably as pilots turned off the transponder that tracks flights and reports their position to air traffic control. 

Assad’s jet is said to have landed at the Moscow-controlled airbase, where he swiftly transferred onto a Russian military jet and left his war-torn nation behind, heading for refuge in the Russian capital. 

Now, as Assad stews in Moscow, Islamist rebel group HTS is setting about bringing Syria under control, establishing a transition government and working to roll out aid and services to civilians.

Last week, HTS took to state television to announce Mohammad al-Bashir – the head of the group’s so-called ‘Salvation Government’ in Syria’s northwest Idlib province – as interim Prime Minister of a transitional cabinet that will remain in place until March 1.

But the seemingly stable beginnings of the transition government belie what is unfolding elsewhere across Syria.

There are makings of a new civil war in the north as Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militants streamed into Kurdish-held areas.

Widespread reports claimed the SNA was ransacking Kurdish homes while shocking videos emerged that appeared to show Turkish-aligned rebels executing wounded Kurdish soldiers as they lay in hospital beds in the town of Manbij.

Meanwhile, Israel conducted widespread airstrikes and bombing campaigns designed to demolish the weapons stockpiles and military hardware left behind by regime forces, while advancing troops and tanks far into the buffer zone separating Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Other reports claim ISIS fighters captured and executed Syrian government forces as they fled the HTS onslaught through the Homs desert last week.