"Shooting down" of Assad's plane was cover for his escape from Syria – Defense Intelligence

The aggressor country russia used disinformation about the alleged shooting down of Bashar al-Assad's plane to cover up its operation to rescue the Syrian leader.

The Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported this on Sunday, December 8.

The Defense Intelligence noted that Assad's escape was accompanied by news about the disappearance of his Il-76T plane from monitoring radars. Among the main reasons was the shooting down or plane crash of the Syrian dictator.

"According to available data, the aggressor state Russia used this disinformation to cover up its operation to rescue the Syrian leader and a limited circle of people close to him. The loss of Assad's plane's signal from the radar is likely due to the actions of the crew, who were following the instructions of the Russians and flying under their guidance," the report says.

At the same time, the situation of the russian contingent in Syria remains consistently difficult, the russian occupiers continue to flee. The top brass of the russian army were the first to flee, in particular, after a week of command, the newly appointed commander of the russian forces in Syria, General Alexander Khaiko, left Syria. The russians had to attract additional ships to remove the remnants of their weapons, equipment and personnel.

At the same time, russian media reported that Bashar al-Assad had arrived in moscow, and russia had provided asylum to the former Syrian president and his family.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on December 8, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that Ukraine supports the Syrian people and is ready to restore diplomatic relations in the future.

On December 8, Reuters reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was likely killed in a plane crash.

Recall that on December 6, Syrian government forces began to withdraw from the area around the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria.