源 稿 窗
在文章中双击或划词查词典
字号 +
字号 -
折叠显示
全文显示
Deposed Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad said Monday he had no plans to leave his homeland eight days ago after ruling it for 24 years but that Moscow requested he evacuate the Russian military base he had fled to as rebels attacked it and rapidly toppled his government.
"My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles," Assad said on his Telegram channel in his first statement since he was ousted and fled to asylum in Russia. "Moscow requested... an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday December 8" after he had moved to Latakia early that day.
Assad said he had planned to keep fighting from the coastal province base but left after it came under drone attack. He had left Damascus, the capital, as rebels stormed into the city.
"When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose," he said.
Assad said nothing about where he is living in Russia, his current circumstances, whether he plans to remain there or how many family members and other allies fled with him.
The deposed leader said that as he arrived at Russia's Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, "it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and the last army positions had fallen."
"With no visible means of leaving the base," Assad said, "Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia."
"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," he said. "The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught."
Assad's statement came as a British-based war monitor said Israeli airstrikes early Monday hit missile warehouses in Syria and called it the "most violent strikes" since 2012.
Israel has been bombarding what it says are military sites in Syria after the dramatic collapse of Assad's rule, wiping out air defenses and most of the arsenal of the former Syrian army.
Israeli troops have also seized a border buffer zone, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for territorial gains.
Need for Syrian-led transition
Meanwhile, the office of the U.N.'s Syria envoy said Monday that he stressed the need for a Syrian-led political transition as he met in Damascus with the head of the rebel group that led the ouster of Assad.
The transition should be based on the principles of a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for "credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance," within six months, as well as establishing a process for drafting a new constitution with elections to follow, envoy Geir Pederson's office said in its statement.
Pederson, in his talks with rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, also "stressed the intention of the United Nations to render all assistance to the Syrian people."
A rebel statement said Jolani discussed the need to update the resolution to reflect the current situation in Syria.
Pederson's visit is one piece of a widespread international engagement with the rebels since Assad's ouster, as Syria faces political upheaval following more than 50 years of Assad family rule and the need for massive reconstruction after bloody civil war.
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Monday he arrived in Beirut and would be making his way to Damascus.
"A week of change in five decades, and then five decades of change in a week," Fletcher said on X.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU's envoy to Syria was heading to Damascus on Monday for talks.
Jolani's group, Haya Tahrir al-Sham, is designated a terror group by the United States and others.
As governments engage with the rebels, officials have signaled a willingness to reconsider that status but have cautioned that it will be the group's actions that will be judged in any reconsideration process.
"For us, it's not only the words, but we want to see the deeds going in the right direction," Kallas told reporters in Brussels.
"Syria faces optimistic, positive, but rather uncertain future and we have to make sure that this goes to the right direction," Kallas added.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.