Syria's Assad blames 'terrorism' for regime collapse in first statement since defeat

[ad_1] LONDON -- Former Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday made his first official assertion since being toppled by a insurgent offensive and fleeing the nation for Russia, declaring that he left Syria after a request from Moscow to take action.

"My departure from Syria was neither deliberate nor did it happen within the ultimate hours of the battles," Assad mentioned in an announcement attributed to him and posted to the presidency's official Telegram channel.

"As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to supervise fight operations," Assad mentioned.

"Upon arrival on the Khmeimim air base that morning, it grew to become clear that our forces had utterly withdrawn from all battle traces and that the final military positions had fallen," the assertion continued.

A billboard with an image of Syria's former President Bashar Assad reveals harm by bullet holes after his ousting in Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 16, 2024.

Ammar Awad/Reuters

"As the sphere state of affairs within the space continued to deteriorate, the Russian navy base itself got here underneath intensified assault by drone strikes. With no viable technique of leaving the bottom, Moscow requested that the bottom's command prepare a direct evacuation to Russia."

"This came about a day after the autumn of Damascus, following the collapse of the ultimate navy positions and the ensuing paralysis of all state establishments," Assad mentioned.

"At no level throughout these occasions did I take into account stepping down or searching for refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any particular person or get together," Assad mentioned. "The one plan of action was to proceed preventing in opposition to the terrorist onslaught."

Assad made no touch upon the longstanding allegations that his regime dedicated huge human rights abuses all through his 24 years in energy, abuses that opposition forces, human rights organizations and international governments say solely intensified after the outbreak of civil struggle in 2011.

The autumn of his regime noticed jubilant fighters and residents emptying Assad's prisons. Greater than 100,000 persons are nonetheless believed to be lacking, disappeared into Damascus' sprawling and opaque safety equipment.

The chief of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham insurgent group, which led the shock offensive putting out of Idlib southwards in the direction of Damascus, vowed that the transitional authorities would maintain to account these implicated in Assad's human rights abuses.

Ahmed al-Sharaa -- additionally recognized by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- mentioned shortly after the autumn of Damascus, "We is not going to hesitate to carry accountable the criminals, murderers, safety and military officers concerned in torturing the Syrian folks."

As Assad's assertion was launched, rescue employees had been selecting by a suspected mass grave found on the outskirts of the capital. The world was underneath navy management and the street main into it was closed to civilians. A United Nations delegation, in the meantime, was visiting the notorious Saydnaya jail within the capital.

In Monday's assertion, Assad described himself as a pacesetter "who, from the very first day of the struggle, refused to barter the salvation of his nation for private achieve, or to compromise his folks in change for quite a few presents and enticements."

Members of Syria's White Helmets civil protection service put together to move our bodies uncovered at a mass grave in Damascus on Dec. 16, 2024.

Mohammed Al-rifai/AFP by way of Getty Photos

The previous president mentioned he "stood alongside the officers and troopers of the military on the entrance traces, simply meters from terrorists in essentially the most harmful and intense battlefields."

"Through the darkest years of the struggle," Assad mentioned he was a pacesetter who "didn't go away however remained together with his household alongside his folks, confronting terrorism underneath bombardment and the recurring threats of terrorist incursions into the capital over fourteen years of struggle."

"I've by no means sought positions for private achieve however have all the time thought-about myself as a custodian of a nationwide undertaking, supported by the religion of the Syrian folks, who believed in its imaginative and prescient," he added. "I've carried an unwavering conviction of their will and talent to guard the state, defend its establishments, and uphold their selections to the final second."

"When the state falls into the palms of terrorism and the power to make a significant contribution is misplaced, any place turns into void of objective, rendering its occupation meaningless," the previous president mentioned.

"This doesn't, in any manner, diminish my profound sense of belonging to Syria and her folks -- a bond that continues to be unshaken by any place or circumstance. It's a belonging crammed with hope that Syria will as soon as once more be free and unbiased."