Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al Assad issues first statement since fall of regime
Former Syrian leader Bashar al Assad has issued his first statement since the fall of his regime.
In a social media post, he claimed he had planned to keep fighting rebel forces before Russia evacuated him.
The comments, the first in public since his regime was toppled more than a week ago, were made on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel.
The statement said he left Damascus for Russia on 8 December – “a day after the fall” of the city, adding: “At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refugee.
“The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.”
Assad left the Syrian capital following a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country – bringing his 24-year rule to an abrupt end.
He claimed he had remained in Damascus “carrying out my duties” until rebel forces got into the city and only then, in co-ordination with Russian forces, was he moved to Moscow’s base in the coastal province of Latakia.
Assad claimed he had planned to keep fighting.
But as it emerged his own forces had collapsed completely in the face of the rebel advance, the airbase where he was staying came under attack by drones, he said.
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“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December,” he added.
His whereabouts, as well as those of his wife Asma and their three children, were initially unknown, until Russia said Assad had left Syria after negotiations with the rebel groups.
Assad also claimed that he had “never sought positions for personal gain” and instead considered himself “a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people”.
However, he seemingly makes no reference to potentially returning.
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The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al Sham group which forced Assad from power has vowed to bring Assad and his cronies to justice.
Assad, his brother Maher and two army generals are also wanted in France, where last year authorities issued an international arrest warrant for alleged complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, including a 2013 chemical attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb.
Now Assad’s regime has fallen, ending more than 50 years of his family’s rule, the war and devastation that his leadership was marked by is being tolled up.
The UN estimated last year that over 300,000 civilians had been killed by the end of March 2021 in the conflict.
In 2021, researchers estimated a further 250,000 fighters had also been killed in the first ten years of the civil war.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) estimated that government forces and allied Iranian militias were responsible for around 87% of those deaths.
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The victims include almost 30,000 children.
Assad’s government also institutionalised torture, according to human rights groups.
Assad’s infamous Sednaya prison complex was dubbed the “human slaughterhouse” where jailers carried out mass hangings and executions, Amnesty International said in a 2017 report.
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Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people waiting for aid in Khan Younis, Hamas-run health ministry says
Israeli tank shellfire has killed at least 51 Palestinians in Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of others have been injured, with “dozens of critical cases” arriving at a medical complex.
It is feared that the number of fatalities will rise.
Pic: Reuters
The strikes took place as people waited for United Nations and commercial aid trucks in the southern Gaza city.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd.
“Emergency, intensive care, and operating rooms are experiencing severe overcrowding,” a statement said.
Officials say medical staff “are operating with limited supplies of life-saving medicines” – with the ministry renewing an “urgent appeal” to increase aid.
Pic: Reuters
Hours earlier, Donald Trump had joined other G7 leaders to call for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on this incident.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 34 people were shot dead near food distribution centres.
This was the highest reported daily total since Israel and US-backed aid centres opened last month, with thousands of Palestinians moving through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach them.
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