SYRIA – Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s departure from the country was unplanned, according to a statement posted Monday on the Syrian Presidency Telegram account, purporting to be from Assad. It’s unclear if Assad still controls the Telegram account. If the statement is authentic, it would mark the first time he has publicly commented on events since his regime fell this month.

“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th December 2024,” the statement from the Syrian Presidency account on Telegram said. The statement claims Assad moved to Russia’s airbase in Syria’s Hmeimim on the morning of Sunday, December 8, and Russia asked him to evacuate when the base came under attack.

“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December. This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions,” the statement said.

“At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught,” the statement added. Assad suggested that his position as president became “void of purpose” after the country was taken over by “terrorists.”

“When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose, rendering its occupation meaningless.” Assad and his family arrived in Moscow after being granted asylum in Russia for what state media explained as “humanitarian reasons,” an official source in Russia told CNN on the night of December 8. (CNN)

FRANCE – Reports of widespread damage are emerging from Mayotte after a 100-year cyclone ripped across the French archipelago Saturday, inflicting devastation that one resident likened to an atomic bomb, with hundreds and possibly even thousands of feared victims. “The situation is catastrophic, apocalyptic,” Bruno Garcia, owner of Hotel Caribou in Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, told CNN-affiliate BFMTV.

“We lost everything. The entire hotel is completely destroyed,” Garcia said. “There is nothing left. It’s as if an atomic bomb fell on Mayotte.” Mayotte lies in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, just west of Madagascar. Made up of two main islands, its land area is about twice the size of Washington DC.

Cyclone Chido, a category 4 storm, tore through the southwestern Indian Ocean over the weekend, impacting northern Madagascar before rapidly intensifying and slamming Mayotte with winds above 220 kilometers per hour (136 miles per hour), according to France’s weather service. It was the strongest storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years, Meteo-France said. Chido then continued into northern Mozambique where it continued to cause damage, though the storm has now weakened. (CNN)

NEW YORK – This isn’t the plot of War of the Worlds, but rather the result of numerous possible drone sightings in recent weeks. The flying objects have been spotted over residential neighborhoods, restricted sites and critical infrastructure. The sightings have put intense pressure on federal agencies to provide more information about the aircraft, as officials have urged calm and emphasized there is no evidence suggesting the sightings pose a security threat.

“I want to assure the American public that we are on it,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. Reported drone activity prompted at least one airport – New York’s Stewart International Airport – to temporarily close its runways for about an hour on Friday night. At around the same time, airspace above Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio was restricted because of drone activity while authorities monitored the situation, base spokesperson Bob Purtiman told CNN affiliate WHIO.

Wright-Patterson includes operations dedicated to monitoring cyber threats and the 655th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group, which oversees 14 intelligence squadrons around the country. CNN reached out to the Air Force for comment. “This has gone too far,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday, adding last month she “directed the New York State Intelligence Center to actively investigate drone sightings and coordinate with federal law enforcement to address this issue.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s asking the DHS to deploy special detection systems that use 360-degree technology to detect drones. “If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on,” Schumer said Sunday while discussing the technology. The FBI and DHS said in a joint statement Thursday there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

Despite reassurances from federal officials, local politicians continue to press for more information and resources to investigate the sightings. (CNN)

RUSSIA – Two Russian tankers carrying thousands of tons of fuel were badly damaged in stormy weather near the Black Sea over the weekend, leading to an oil spill, according to Russian state media. The Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 vessels were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and annexed Crimea when they got into peril on Sunday, with winds in the area reaching up to 45 mph (70 kph).

Video circulating on unofficial Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels appeared to show one large ship snapped in two, with water spilling over the edge of the top deck of the vessel as choppy waves rocked it from side to side. The bow of a ship, seen in the background of the video, was broken off and appeared just above the water line. Crew members could be seen wearing lifejackets as the camera spun around. CNN has been unable to independently verify the location of the video.

Russian state media TASS reported that those on board both vessels were rescued, though one crew member of the Volgoneft 212 is reported to have died. The tankers were carrying more than 9,000 tons of oil, emergency services reported, according to TASS. Some of this oil spilled into the Kerch Strait, which specialists were preparing to clean up, it said. The oil spill “has the potential to be serious,” Greenpeace Ukraine said in a statement published on Sunday, especially given the area’s weather conditions, which could make the leak “extremely difficult to contain.”

The impact of the spill could also depend on the type of oil the vessels were carrying, Paul Johnston, head of Greenpeace Research Laboratories, said in the statement. Heavy residual fuel oils would cause more damage than other substances, he said. The region suffered a similar oil spill in November 2007, when five ships sank in storms in the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. In that incident, strong winds and high surf caused the Volgoneft 139 to split in two, spilling up 560,000 gallons, or approximately 1,000 tons, of fuel oil. (CNN)