Bashar al-Assad has broken his silence and claims Vladimir Putin forced his cowardly escape from Syria on him.

The ousted leader said from Moscow he had no intention of fleeing the Syria but had to after the Russian base he was staying in was being bombed.

The statement was published on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel and dated December 16 and was Assad’s first in public since he was toppled more than a week ago by a rebel offensive.

Assad said he stayed in Damascus until the early hours of Sunday December 8 until “terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus”.

He then claims he moved to the Russian air base in Lattakia, named Kheimim, to oversee the fighting of the rebels.

But just house later the base itself came under drone strikes.

Assad said: “Upon arrival at the Kheimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen.”

Assad then claims that as those inside could not safely leave the base and remain in Syria, they had to evacuate it to Russia.

He said: “At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by an individual party.

“The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.”

He goes on to say that he refused to negotiate on the war to keep himself in power.

In a bizarre section of the statement, Assad begins to speak about himself in the second person as he boasts his loyalty.

“He is the same person who, during the darkest years of the war, did not leave but remained with his family alongside his people, confronting terrorism under bombardment and the recurring threats of of terrorist incursions into the capital over 14 years of war.

“The person who has never abandoned the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, nor betrayed his allies who stood by him, cannot possibly be the same person who would forsake his own people or betray the army and nation to which he belongs.”

Assad said, despite being in Moscow, that he had not lost or diminished his sense of belonging to Syria.

Incredibly, the ousted dictator left the door open for a return saying he hoped Syria would be “once again free and independent”.