Assad "There were no plans to escape Syria..."Russia evacuates"

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled rebel-held Syria and fled to Russia, claimed he had no plans to leave the country, but that Russia had evacuated him.

"Leaving Syria was neither planned nor, as some claim, at the end of the battle," Assad said in a statement on the Telegram account of Syria's presidential office on the 16th local time.

He continued, "I remained in Damascus until the early morning of the 8th to perform my duties. As the terrorists penetrated, they moved to Latakia, he explained. "When Khmeimim base was also attacked by drones, Russia asked to evacuate immediately that evening."

"It happened the day after Damascus fell and all state agencies were paralyzed," he said, stressing that he had never backed down or considered evacuation.

He added that if the state falls into the hands of terrorists, any position loses its purpose and becomes meaningless, but that does not reduce its sense of belonging to Syria and its people.