{"id":137797,"date":"2024-12-16T21:25:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T14:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137797"},"modified":"2024-12-16T21:25:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T14:25:49","slug":"bashar-al-assad-releases-first-statement-since-fleeing-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137797","title":{"rendered":"Bashar al-Assad releases first statement since fleeing to Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Syria&#8217;s former President Bashar al-Assad appears to say he never intended to flee to Russia &#8211; in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus eight days ago. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Assad&#8217;s reported statement was put on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, although it is not clear who currently controls it &#8211; or whether he wrote it.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">In it he says that, as the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to the Russian military base in Latakia province &#8220;to oversee combat operations&#8221; only to see that Syrian troops had abandoned positions.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Hmeimim base had also come under &#8220;intensified attack by drone strikes&#8221; and the Russians had decided to airlift him to Moscow, he says.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">He adds that &#8220;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&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">&#8220;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,&#8221; the statement adds.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Assad and his family fled to Russia as city after city fell to rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) within a period of 11 days.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The rebels groups are continuing to form a transitional government in Syria<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">HTS, Syria&#8217;s most powerful rebel group, was set up under a different name, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011 and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the following year. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Al-Nusra broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and later took the name HTS when it merged with other factions. However, the UN, US, UK and a number of other countries continue to designate it as a terrorist group.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has pledged tolerance for different religious groups and communities. But his group&#8217;s jihadist past has left some doubting whether it will live up to such promises.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yd0zz5edqo\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syria&#8217;s former President Bashar al-Assad appears to say he never intended to flee to Russia &#8211; in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137797\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}