Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.
The comments are the first by al-Assad since he was overthrown by insurgent groups earlier this month.
He said in a statement on his Facebook page that he left Damascus on the morning of December 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting.
He said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of December 8 to Russia. "I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier," he said.
His whereabouts, as well as those of his wife Asma and their three children, were initially unknown, until Russia said Assad had left Syria after negotiations with the rebel groups.
Meanwhile, a UK 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 defenses 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.
The US embassy in Damascus has advised Americans to leave Syria, saying the security situation there continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and "terrorism throughout the country."
The embassy, which has been closed since 2012, posted a statement on X, warning US citizens who were unable to leave the country to prepare "contingency plans for emergency situations." It didn't give further details.
The statement also said that the U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens and those who need "emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter."
Sleeper cells of the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for deadly attacks over the past months in different parts of Syria. Despite their defeat in March 2019, the extremists still pose a threat in the war-torn country.
