Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in his first statements since the fall of his regime that he did not leave Syria “in a planned manner” and “did not seek asylum” in Russia.
Al-Assad said in the statement: “With the expansion of terrorism inside Damascus, I moved in coordination with my Russian friends to Latakia to follow up on the combat operations from there. After moving to Hmeimim, it became clear that the forces had withdrawn from all the fighting lines and that the last army positions had fallen,” he said.
He continued that with the “deterioration of the field situation in that area and the escalation of the attack on the Russian base itself with drones, and in light of the impossibility of leaving the base in any direction, Moscow asked the base leadership to work on an immediate evacuation to Russia on Sunday evening, that is, the day after the fall of Damascus and after the fall of the last military sites and the subsequent paralysis of the rest of the state institutions.”
For its part, the Ministry of Interior denied the presence of Maher al-Assad, the brother of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, inside Iraqi territory.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Muqdad Miri said, “The news on social media sites about the possible presence of Maher al-Assad, the brother of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, inside Iraqi territory is false. Miri called on the media to be accurate and careful in transmitting news from its official sources.”
