Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday seemed to painting himself as a devoted “custodian” of his country who remained combating “towards the terrorist onslaught” ahead of being compelled to escape to Russia.
Assad, who over the past decade and a part became notorious for his brutal and oppressive ways hired all the way through the civil conflict, launched a observation on Telegram suggesting he was once not anything however devoted to Syria and stays hopeful that “Syria will as soon as once more be unfastened and unbiased.”
Following just about 14 years of battle, human rights abuses and vicious residing prerequisites for many Syrians, Assad was once ousted on Dec. 8 following a major offensive led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which swept western Syria from the north to the south, taking on Damascus in an issue of weeks.
Other folks wave weapons within the air as they acquire to have a good time the autumn of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Sq. on Dec. 8 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Photographs)
Assad seemed to counter what he described as a “flood of incorrect information and narratives a ways got rid of from the reality, aimed toward recasting global terrorism as a liberation revolution for Syria” and mentioned he remained combating in Syria for so long as he may.
Regardless that it’s been recognized for every week that the Syrian dictator fled to Moscow following the collapse of Damascus, the main points of his departure had remained unclear.
Assad mentioned that following the offensive that first swept Aleppo, Hama and Homs ahead of hitting the capital, he remained in Damascus till the morning of Dec. 8.
“As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Lattakia in coordination with our Russian allies to supervise struggle operations,” he wrote.
He mentioned it become right away obvious upon arriving on the Hmeimim Air Base – situated on Syria’s northern sea coast the place Russian forces have operated since 2015 – that each one Syrian military positions within the space had fallen and opposition forces an increasing number of started focused on the bottom with drone moves.
A torn portrait of Bashir al-Assad, that looks to were organized, is noticed throughout the Presidential Palace on Dec. 10, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Photographs)
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“With out a viable method of leaving the bottom, Moscow asked that the bottom’s command prepare an instantaneous evacuation to Russia at the night time of Sunday eighth December,” Assad mentioned.
He claimed that because the rise up crew swept the country, he “stood along the officials and infantrymen of the military at the entrance strains, simply meters from terrorists in essentially the most unhealthy and intense battlefields.”
As well as, Assad seemed to validate the movements of his oppressive regime and mentioned he “refused to negotiate the salvation of his country for private acquire, or to compromise his folks in change for a large number of provides and enticements.”
Sednaya, the notorious “human slaughterhouse” outdoor Damascus, was once the place hundreds of regime fighters have been locked up, tortured and killed from the earliest days of the 2011 rebellion to the lengthy brutal years of civil conflict. (Sandro BasiliAbaca/Sipa by way of AP Photographs)
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Regardless of the abhorrent prerequisites in Syria, and years of reporting on human rights abuses, torture, mass arbitrary detentions – together with of youngsters – and executions, Assad claimed his movements had been achieved for the folk of Syria.
“I’ve by no means sought positions for private acquire however have all the time thought to be myself as a custodian of a countrywide challenge, supported through the religion of the Syrian folks, who believed in its imaginative and prescient,” he mentioned. “I’ve carried an unwavering conviction of their will and skill to offer protection to the state, shield its establishments, and uphold their alternatives to the very closing second.”
