Al-Assad Slams Supporting Terrorists, To West: End Hypocrisy

Local Editor
 
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad railed against the "hypocrisy" of Western nations in their approach to the Syrian crisis and called on Gulf Arab states to "stop financing terrorists" fighting to overthrow his government.

In an interview with the UK-based Sunday Times, al-Assad reiterated his willingness to engage in dialogue with certain opposition groups, but vowed to continue fighting armed terrorists.
"We have opposition that are political entities, and we have armed terrorists," he said, according to a full transcript of the interview published on the website of Syria's state news agency.
"We can engage in dialogue with the opposition but we cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists," he added, and pointed out: "They [the opposition] say that the dialogue will bring the downfall of the President and I am inviting them to the dialogue. Why don't they then come to the dialogue to bring my downfall? This is self-evident. That's why I said they are contradicting themselves."

When asked about Britain's role in the crisis, al-Assad said London had historically been "unconstructive" in the region with a "tradition of bullying and hegemony."
He further wondered: "How can we expect to ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarize the problem? ... We do not expect from an arsonist to be a firefighter."
"The British government continues to push the EU to lift its arms embargo on Syria to start arming militants with heavy weapons. That is what I call detached from reality-when you are detached from your own public opinion! And they go further in saying that they want to send "military aid" that they describe as non-lethal," al-Assad clarified.
Meanwhile, he added: "The intelligence, communication and financial assistance being provided is very lethal. The events of 11th of September were not committed by lethal aids. It was the application of non-lethal technology and training which caused the atrocities."

In the interview conducted last week, al-Assad criticized the United States for blocking a UN resolution condemning a massive explosion in Damascus on February 21 near the ruling party's headquarters that killed dozens of civilians.
To block the resolution was "beyond hypocrisy," he said.
"Beyond hypocrisy [is] when you preach about human rights and you go into Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and kill hundreds of thousands in illegal wars," al-Assad continued. "Beyond hypocrisy is when you talk about democracy and your closest allies are the worst autocratic regimes in the world that belong to the medieval centuries."

Regarding "Israeli" strike on Syria in January, al-Assad said Damascus will respond "in its own way," without explaining in what form, or when the retaliation would take place.
When asked about US Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to the region, al-Assad said he could help Syria by urging the leaders of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to quit interfering in the crisis.
"[Kerry] can do only one thing [to help Syria]. He can go to Turkey and sit with (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and tell to him stop smuggling terrorists into Syria, stop sending armaments, stop providing logistical support to those terrorists. He can go to Saudi Arabia and Qatar and tell them stop financing the terrorists in Syria."

In parallel, the Syrian President also denied speculation that soldiers from Lebanon's Hizbullah were fighting alongside Syrian troops, saying that Syria is "in no need of foreign fighters to defend our country."
On the allies' positions, al-Assad reiterated : "Hizbullah, Iran and Russia support Syria in her fight against terrorism. Russia has been very constructive, Iran has been very supportive and Hizbullah's role is to defend Lebanon not Syria."

"We are a country of 23 million people with a strong National Army and Police Force. We are in no need of foreign fighters to defend our country. What we should be asking is, what about the role of other countries, - Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, the UK, the US, - that support terrorism in Syria directly or indirectly, militarily or politically," he mentioned.

Source: The Sunday Times, Edited by moqawama.org