Assad says he wanted to stay in Syria but Russia evacuated him

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00:00Eight days after fleeing to Russia, the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad broke his

00:06silence for the first time.

00:08He took to social media to counter claims that he had premeditated his departure to

00:12Moscow and denied he abandoned his country.

00:16He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Hmeimim airbase in the coastal

00:20province of Latakia, where he had planned to keep fighting.

00:25My departure from Syria was neither planned, nor did it occur during the final hours of

00:29the battles, as some have claimed.

00:32Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia

00:36on the evening of Sunday 8th December.

00:39This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military

00:44positions.

00:45The statement was met with disdain and scepticism from some Syrians in Damascus.

00:52They're saying he didn't abandon his post and his people, but he abandoned his people

00:55a long time ago, when he starved, imprisoned and killed them, when he displaced them and

01:00made them orphans.

01:02He's holding on to power, let's see where this will lead him.

01:05Is he going to run away from us?

01:06At least he won't be able to run away from God.

01:09May God never give him success.

01:12Syrians continue to celebrate the end of 50 years of the al-Assad political dynasty, with

01:17hopes that the future will be brighter than the past.

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