Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in his first statements since the fall of his regime that he did not leave Syria "in a planned manner" and "did not seek asylum" in Russia.

In a statement published on the presidency’s account, which appears to still be affiliated with the former regime, the account published, on Monday, a statement attributed to Assad, who fled to Syria as opposition forces advanced and entered Damascus on December 8.

The introduction to the statement read: “After several unsuccessful attempts to publish this statement through Arab and foreign media, the only available method was to publish it on the social media platforms of the former presidency.”

Assad said in the statement: "I did not leave the country in a planned manner as was rumored, nor did I leave during the last hours of the battles," noting that he remained in Damascus "pursuing his responsibilities until the early hours of Sunday morning."

He added: "With the expansion of terrorism inside Damascus, I moved in coordination with my Russian friends to Latakia to follow up on the combat operations from there. After moving to Hmeimim, it became clear that the forces had withdrawn from all the fighting lines and that the last army positions had fallen," he said.

He added that with the "deterioration of the field situation in that area and the escalation of the attack on the Russian base itself with drones, and in light of the impossibility of leaving the base in any direction, Moscow asked the base leadership to work on an immediate evacuation to Russia on Sunday evening, that is, the day after the fall of Damascus and after the fall of the last military sites and the subsequent paralysis of the rest of the state institutions."

He added, "During those events, neither he nor any party raised the issue of asylum or resignation, and the option presented was to continue fighting in defense of the terrorist attack."