Bashar al-Assad reappears since his ouster, claiming Syria is in the hands of "terrorists"

 In his first statements since being overthrown, Bashar al-Assad said on December 16 that he was evacuated from Syria to Russia amid attacks on the air base from which he was transferred and claimed that the country was in the hands of "terrorists." Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts are underway to bring about a political transition: the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, has assured that the organization will provide "all possible assistance" to the population. The Kurds are calling for an emergency meeting to agree on a transfer of power.

A week after being overthrown after more than 13 years of bloody civil war, the ousted Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, reappears.

The man who ruled Syria for more than 24 years said on December 16 that he was evacuated to Russia from the Khmeimim air base, in the southeast of the Latakia governorate, on the night of Sunday, December 8.

The ousted president said that his evacuation took place at a time when the base was being attacked by drones, after leaving Damascus, the country's capital, on Sunday morning, as opposition fighters approached. His statements were published on the Syrian presidency's Telegram channel, dated December 16, from Moscow.

"As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations," he said.

Assad also claims that it was Moscow that requested the immediate evacuation to Russia, which took place one day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the last military positions. A statement with which he tried to emphasize that his departure from the country was not planned.

"At no point during these events was resignation or seeking refuge considered, nor was such a proposal made by any person or party," he said in the statement, mentioning that his plan was to continue "fighting."

The last ruler of a family that has controlled Syria since the 1950s also said he has not lost hope that the country will "be free and independent again," saying the nation had fallen "into the hands of terrorism."

Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by forces led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), under the leadership of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

UN pledges aid to Syria; Kurds call for consensus on power transition.

Diplomatic and international efforts are beginning in Syria, and some offers of help are arriving.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Monday that the United Nations intends to provide "all possible assistance" to the population of that country after meeting in Damascus with the new leaders of the Administration that overthrew the regime of Baschar al-Assad.

For his part, the leader of the forces now in power, Abu Mohamed al Jolani, stressed at that meeting that a safe environment is important for the return of refugees.

Pedersen and Ahmed al-Sharaa met on Sunday, December 15, when they also discussed "the changes that have occurred in the political scene that make it necessary to update" the resolution of the United Nations Security Council, which had been issued in 2015. The leader of HTS asked that it be adapted to the current reality, after the overthrow of al-Assad.

The resolution he refers to is the one that established a roadmap for a political agreement in Syria. In it, they also describe the Nusra Front as “terrorist”, from which the HTS has its roots.

Precisely on Monday, the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, called for the exclusion of the Islamist militia Organization of the Liberation of the Levant (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) from the Russian list of terrorist organizations in order to establish contacts with the new Syrian authorities.

"To start the positive processes, it is necessary to put in place the mechanism to exclude Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its representatives from the Russian list of terrorist organizations," he said on Telegram, just a week after the Russian Duma approved a new mechanism to lift the ban on the activities of organizations considered terrorist.

Meanwhile, the Kurds in Syria are calling for an urgent meeting to agree on a transition of power.

The self-proclaimed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls large areas in those parts of the country, outlined a number of core objectives, including ceasing military operations in the country, respecting the coexistence of different communities and ensuring the participation of women in the future political process.

With Reuters, AP and EFE