DAMASCUS (AP)– Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad stated Monday he wished to remain in the nation after rebels caught the capital, however the Russian military left him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack.
They were Assad's very first public remarks given that he was toppled by insurgent groups simply over a week back following a speedy offensive that has actually shocked the nation's alliances and caused events in a country long suppressed by civil war.
A representative for the brand-new transitional federal government informed The Associated Press that the brand-new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.
Assad stated on Facebook that he left Damascus on the early morning of Dec. 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He stated he left in coordination with Russian allies to their Hmeimim air base in the seaside province of Latakia, where he had actually prepared to keep combating.
After the Russian base came under attack by drones, he stated, the Russians chose to move him that night to Russia.
“At no point throughout these occasions did I think about stepping down or looking for sanctuary nor was such proposition made by any private or celebration,” Assad stated in the English text of his declaration. “The only strategy was to continue combating versus the terrorist assault.”
A broken poster of previous Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen on a signboard on Dec. 14, 2024 in Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo was the very first significant city to fall in recently's lightning offensive by rebel forces as they fell Syria's Assad routine.
Burak Kara by means of Getty Images
In Damascus, locals dismissed Assad's remarks and some stated he had actually deserted Syria's individuals long back.
“Is he going to escape from us? He still will not have the ability to flee from God,” stated one local, Moataz al-Ahmed, as kids stepped on a fallen statue of Assad's daddy, Hafez, who had actually started the household's half-century guideline.
The representative for the transitional federal government's political department stated in an interview Monday that “the Assad program is completed with no return” and Russia “need to reassess its existence on Syrian area in addition to its interests.”
The spokesperson, Obeida Arnaout, informed the AP that Syria has actually gone into a brand-new stage that will be open to the world, and the brand-new federal government is seeking to construct great relations with its next-door neighbors and beyond.
He likewise got in touch with the U.S. and other nations to reassess the classification of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham– the primary rebel group and a previous al-Qaida affiliate– as a terrorist company, calling it “wrong and not precise” classification.
Currently, the U.S. has stated its authorities have actually remained in direct contact with the group.
Syria is home to numerous ethnic and spiritual neighborhoods, typically pitted versus each other by Assad's state and years of war. A number of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take control of.
