Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad seems to say he by no means supposed to flee to Russia – in what’s presupposed to be his first assertion for the reason that fall of Damascus eight days in the past.
Assad’s reported assertion was placed on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, though it isn’t clear who presently controls it – or whether or not he wrote it.
In it he says that, because the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to the Russian navy base in Latakia province “to supervise fight operations” solely to see that Syrian troops had deserted positions.
Hmeimim base had additionally come below “intensified assault by drone strikes” and the Russians had determined to airlift him to Moscow, he says.
He provides that “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 celebration”.
“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,” the assertion provides.
Assad and his household fled to Russia as metropolis after metropolis fell to rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) inside a interval of 11 days.
The rebels teams are persevering with to type a transitional authorities in Syria
HTS, Syria’s strongest insurgent group, was arrange below a unique identify, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011 and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the next yr.
Al-Nusra broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and later took the identify HTS when it merged with different factions. However, the UN, US, UK and a variety of different nations proceed to designate it as a terrorist group.
Its chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, who beforehand used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has pledged tolerance for various non secular teams and communities. But his group’s jihadist previous has left some doubting whether or not it’ll dwell as much as such guarantees.
