Assad denies planning to flee Syria before evacuation by Moscow

A bullet-riddled portrait of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad at the Kweyris military airfield in the eastern part of Aleppo province. Photograph: Rami Al Sayed/AFP/Getty Images

The former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said he had no plans to flee Syria before being evacuated by the Russian army after its base in western Syria came under attack.

In his first comments since the fall of his brutal regime, Assad said he had planned to keep fighting rebel forces.