'I planned to stay': Assad says attack on airbase forced him to flee Syria

The former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said he had no plans to flee Syria before being evacuated by the Russian army after its base in western Syria came under attack.

- Pjotr Sauer Oliver Holmes

In his first comments since the fall of his brutal regime, Assad said yesterday he had planned to keep fighting rebel forces.

"At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught," he said in a statement published on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency and dated 16 December.

Assad said he left Damascus on 8 December as opposition fighters closed in, moving to the Russian-controlled Khmeimim airbase in his stronghold in the Latakia province "to oversee combat operations".

"Upon arrival at the airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen," he added.

Assad claimed he had been evacuated to Russia after the airbase had "itself come under intensified attack by drone strikes".

"With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia," the statement said.