Al-Assad: Victory Only Option, West will Pay for Backing Al-Qaeda

Local Editor

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned on Wednesday the West that it will pay a heavy price for its alleged support of al-Qaeda in Syria and said his regime's defeat is not an option.

In an interview with al-Ikhbariya, al-Assad warned that the West is playing with fire.
"The West has paid heavily for funding al-Qaeda in its early stages. Today it is doing the same in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price in the heart of Europe and the United States," the Syrian President confirmed.

He further stated: "We are facing a new war, a new method with fighters, some of whom are Arabs, not Syrians," and noted that the "army is not fighting a war to liberate Syrian territory, but a war on terror."

While saying the "situation is better now than it was before," he stressed that "there are big powers, in particular the United States, that do not accept countries to be independent; they want them to be submissive."
He added that what is happening now for Syrians is like a "vaccine which, if it doesn't kill you, makes you immune."

In parallel, al-Assad insisted that "everyone who carries weapons and attacks civilians is a terrorist, be they al-Qaeda or not."
The confident President also warned that a defeat of his government would spell the demise of Syria, and vowed that he will not surrender.
"There is no option but victory. Otherwise it will be the end of Syria, and I don't think that the Syrian people will accept such an option," he said. "The truth is there is a war and I repeat: no to surrender, no to submission."

"The truth is there is a war and I repeat: no to surrender, no to submission.
As for his own future, he said that would be decided by the people.
"The position [of president] has no value without popular backing. The people's decision is what matters in the question of whether the president stays or goes," he said, suggesting he might stand for a new term in elections slated for next year.
Al-Assad took to task neighboring Jordan, which says is hosting around 500,000 Syria refugees, accusing it of allowing rebels free movement across its borders.
"I cannot believe that hundreds [of rebels] are entering Syria with their weapons while Jordan is capable of arresting any single person with a light arm for going to resist in Palestine," al-Assad said.

"We would wish that our Jordanian neighbors realize that... the fire will not stop at our borders; all the world knows Jordan is just as exposed [to the crisis] as Syria."
He also told al-Ikhbariya that, "from the first day, what is happening in Syria is dictated from abroad."
The interview was timed to coincide with Syria's Independence Day, which marks the 1946 end of French rule.

In addition, al-Assad condemned measures taken by Turkey and some of the country's Arab neighbors to support anti-Syrian terrorists, and their attempts to start a sectarian civil war in the country.

Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org