Assad denies 'planned' exit from Syria, calls new leaders 'terrorists'

DAMASCUS: Bashar al-Assad on Monday said he fled Syria only after Damascus had fallen and denounced the country's new leaders as "terrorists", in his first remarks since rebels seized the capital and unseated him.

- Agence France-Presse

An Islamist-led rebel alliance launched a lightning offensive from its northwest Syria bastion on November 27, swiftly capturing major cities from government control and taking the capital on December 8.

"My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed," said a statement from Assad on the ousted presidency's Telegram channel.

"I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday December 8," it added.

"As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations," the statement said, adding that he arrived at the Hmeimim base that morning.

"As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes," it said, and "Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening" of December 8.