Last week, Russia began evacuating personnel and equipment from Syria, but said it was in discussions with the ruling Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels about securing the future of its naval port at Tartus and its Hmeimim air base in Latakia. Bashar al-Assad has said Russia forced him to flee Syria and that he wanted to continue fighting the “terrorist onslaught”. In his first statement since the fall of Damascus, the former president said that he went to the Russian air base in Latakia on Dec 8 to “oversee combat operations” as the capital was taken by the rebels. After the base came under drone fire, Moscow ordered an immediate evacuation to Russia, Assad said. Do you think that Assad could have stayed ?