Assad denies ‘planned’ exit from Syria

 

Assad denies ‘planned’ exit from Syria

Bashar 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 militants seized the capital and unseated him.

An opposition 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.

Five former officials previously told AFP that hours before militant forces seized Damascus and toppled Assad’s government, the former Syrian president was already out of the country. — Arab News

Our Take:

Here's where things get very interesting. But first, some housekeeping.

Some are questioning the legitimacy of this statement, which was posted on the official "Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic" Telegram channel.

My friend, Kevork Almassian—an Armenian Christian born in Syria and forced to flee with his family in 2012 after ISIS captured his brother—posted this to his X account, asserting that he has verified the validity of Assad's statement through his contacts in Syria.

Kevork, now living in Germany, started a podcast in 2017 called Syriana Analysis. He has graciously hosted me several times to discuss President Trump and geopolitics from the perspective of the American/MAGA populist. He also appeared for the first time yesterday on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show, Judging Freedom, which I have clipped and shared many times for the News Brief. I encourage everybody to go listen to Kevork's segment.

I should first point out how interesting it is that Assad still controls the social media accounts of the Syrian government. As Chris Paul said yesterday on his show, that feels "Devolution-y."

As for the statement, itself, Assad posted it with the caption:

"After several unsuccessful attempts to release the statement through Arabic and international media outlets, the only viable option was to publish it on the social media accounts of the former presidency."

Interesting. (Assad promised to elaborate with more details of the evacuation in the near future.)

The post sheds new light on the situation, and even seems to affirm my speculation in yesterday's Brief, where I established a timeline of events that seems to suggest that Israel and Russia are now in direct conflict with one another.

According to Assad's statement, the Russian military airbase in Latakia came under intense drone attack, and it can be assumed that these were Israeli drones, given the widespread reporting around December 10 of Israel conducting strikes against "airbases in Latakia."

The narrative now being circulated, based on photographs of printed correspondence, is that the Israeli government and Assad regime were in secret contact, and working together against Iran, whom have purportedly established an extensive network of proxy forces throughout the region. The allegation is that an Israeli operative code-named “Mousa” (Moses in English) directly messaged former Syrian Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ali Mahmoud Abbas as far back as May 2023 to coordinate strikes against the Iranian proxies, using Russia as an intermediary. The claim is that Assad complied in exchange that Israel would not strike any Syrian military sites.

None of this makes any sense. Not only does Russia have signed security agreements with Iran, and reportedly has thousands of soldiers stationed there to help defend against Israeli strikes, but it also has an extensive military presence in Syria that it has maintained since the Cold War, and bolstered in 2015 to help Assad fight against the CIA's military coup, commonly referred to as ISIS.

In my opinion, this is blatantly an attempt by Mossad and the CIA to sow division between Assad and the Syrian people, but also between Russia and Iran. For it is the Russian support of Iran that presents the grave threat to Netanyahu's plans—which he announced yesterday in his call to further expand the territory the IDF had already taken in the Golan Heights.

The Kremlin issued their own response to Netanyahu's declaration, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov advising “hotheads” in West Jerusalem to refrain from trying to exploit the situation in Syria."

"Israel should avoid being “intoxicated by opportunities” presented by the ongoing crisis in Syria, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has warned after Israeli troops launched an incursion into the neighboring country."

Interesting rhetoric, Mr. Ryabkov.

“We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it,” Netanyahu said of the Golan Heights.

President Erdogan of Turkey continues to play enigma, issuing public concerns over Netanyahu's ambitions, after using his own proxy forces in northern Syria to help Netanyahu overthrow Assad in the first place. President Trump made statements yesterday implying that Turkey was the one in control of Syria, which felt a little like coded misdirection.

"They have wanted that land for thousands of years," Trump said to reporters during a press conference.

I'm not sure Trump was actually talking about Turkey, considering the Ottoman Empire controlled Damascus and all of modern Syria for 700 years, losing it in 1918 at the end of World War 1.

Is there another group that has coveted Damascus for thousands of years?

In any event, it would appear that Russia and Israel are on a collision course.

Accelerate. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry