Former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad says departure to Russia ...

Ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.

The comments are the first by Assad since he was overthrown by insurgent groups. Assad said in a statement on his Facebook page that he left Damascus on the morning of Dec. 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He said he left in co-ordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting.

Assad said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of Dec. 8 to Russia.

"At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge nor was such proposal made by any individual or party," Assad said in the English text of his statement. "The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught."

In Damascus, residents dismissed Assad's comments and some said he had abandoned Syria's people long ago.

"Is he going to run away from us? He still won't be able to run away from God," said one resident, Moataz al-Ahmed, as children stepped on a fallen statue of Assad's father, Hafez, who had begun the family's half-century rule.

The spokesperson for the transitional Syrian government's political department said in an interview Monday that "the Assad regime is finished with no return" and Russia "should reconsider its presence on Syrian territory as well as its interests."

Russia's scorched-earth intervention on behalf of its ally, Assad, once turned the tide of the Syrian civil war. In 2017, Assad's government signed a deal with Russia that offered it a free lease of both Hmeimim airbase and the Tartous naval base for 49 years.

Since Assad's departure, there have been no clashes between Russian troops and the former insurgents who have suddenly become the de facto security forces for all of Syria. That's despite the fact that many of the fighters are from areas of northern Syria that came under frequent Russian bombardment and have little love for Moscow.

WATCH l Crimes of Assad regime beginning to come into view:

Brutality of Assad regime haunts Damascus suburb

19 hours ago

Duration 2:44

A week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, one Damascus suburb remains haunted by the brutality and terror unleashed by the Assad regime.

A fighter guarding the shuttered civilian airport next to the Hmeimim base said Monday, "The Russians are preparing to withdraw from Syria, God willing." He gave only his nickname, Abu Saif, because he wasn't authorized to comment publicly.

Russian forces have pulled out of some areas of Syria. Russian forces and military vehicles were seen withdrawing from southern Syria on Friday toward their primary base in the city of Latakia.

Even as Putin granted Assad and his family asylum in Russia, Moscow reached out to the new Syrian authorities to try to ensure the security of its bases and to extend its forces' stay. The three-starred flag of the Syrian revolution was quickly hoisted at the Syrian Embassy in Moscow in place of the old government's two-starred flag. 

Obstacles to establishing Syrian ties

Meanwhile, the European Union's top diplomats said Monday they want guarantees from members of Syria's interim government that they are preparing for a peaceful political future involving all minority groups, one in which extremism and former allies Russia and Iran have no place.

Since Assad's ouster, few reports have surfaced of reprisals, revenge killings or sectarian violence. Most looting or destruction has been quickly contained.

Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad's state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over.

But the new leadership has yet to lay out a clear vision of how Syria will be governed. The interim government was set up by former opposition forces led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that the EU, U.S. and Canada consider to be a terrorist organization.

The interim government is set to rule until March. Arab foreign ministers have called for UN-supervised elections based on a new constitution. The UN envoy to Syria has pressed for removing sanctions.

To understand more, the EU is sending an envoy to Damascus for talks with those at least temporarily in charge.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc wants a "stable, peaceful and all-comprising government in place," but that it will probably take weeks, if not months, for Syria's new path to be clear.

"For us, it's not only the words, but we want to see the deeds," she said.

Syria has been shattered by five decades of Assad family rule. Its economy has been destroyed, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high and corruption seeps through daily life. Millions of people have fled the country.

Hundreds of thousands of them live in Europe, and while some EU countries have suspended asylum applications from Syrian refugees, only those willing to return will be helped to get home, for now.

In 2011, the EU began imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials and organizations in response to Assad's crackdown on civilian protesters, which turned into civil war. The sanctions have been slapped on some 316 people and 86 entities accused of backing Assad.

Also, a U.K.-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 pounding what it says are military sites in Syria after the dramatic collapse of Assad's rule, wiping out air defences and most of the arsenal of the former Syrian army.

Israeli troops have also seized a border buffer zone, sparking condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab.