For the first time since he fled the country, he had ruled with an iron fist and a willingness to kill his own people to stay in power, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was heard from today.

In a statement from exile in Moscow, Assad said, quote, at no point did he consider stepping down or seeking refuge, but said he was evacuated from Syria

by Russian forces after he left Damascus for his family's hometown near Syria's coast.

Assad also said that the country has, in his words, fallen into the hands of terrorism.

That's a reference to the forces that led the lightning campaign that marked a new chapter in Syria's

rebellion and now apparently leads that devastated nation. But the seeds of that revolution were

sown just to the south of Damascus in the city of Deraa by students and young people back in 2011

as the Arab Spring took hold across the Middle East. Special correspondent, Simone

Fultein, reports now on how the city that fostered uprising now celebrates the deposing

of a dictator.

This is where it all began, the riding on the wall that sparked a revolution. In early

2011, Muawiya Sayasne, then a 15-year-old student,

scribbled a prophecy on the walls of his school in the southern city of Dara.

The first wall we wrote on was here. We wrote down with the regime and freedom. And on that

wall over there, we wrote,

it's your turn, doctor.

The title doctor referred to Assad, an ophthalmologist.

The graffiti sprayed on both the school's inner and outer walls.

Was an unimaginable act of protest in Assad's repressive Syria.

When we were little, our parents used to tell us, don't speak about politics.

The walls have ears.

But Muawiya and his friends had been inspired by the Arab Spring.

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