Foreign-backed terrorism destroyed Syria, not those fighting it: Assad

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Sky News Arabia + Agencies
10 Aug 2023 01:04
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Syria's President says all parties involved in any way in the war on the country are responsible for the dire situation the country is living in today.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad speaks during an interview for Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria (Handout by the Syrian Presidency)

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said the country was destroyed by terrorism and those who backed and supported terrorism not by the ones who fought against it [terrorism], stressing that the war would have theoretically ended had the government given in to Western diktats and sacrificed the nation's sovereign interests.

In a very rare TV interview, Al-Assad told Sky News Arabia, as reported by SANA, that the parties that incited, plotted, and executed the war are the ones responsible for the agonies that battered Syria due to the terrorist groups.

“If we let terrorism, could the State be constructed! This is illogical. So, the one who bears the responsibility is the one who stood by terrorism, not the one who defended against terrorism. The one who bears the responsibility is the one who intended for war, the one who planned the war, and the one who attacked, not the one who was attacked," he said.

“There was terrorism and the State was fighting it, and terrorism was killing, destroying and burning… There is no state, even if it was between two parentheses “bad” that destroys the homeland, so terrorism is the one that caused the destruction," he continued.

"The state’s role, by virtue of the constitution and national custom, is to defend the state."

Al-Assad said the war plans against Syria exceeded the government's expectations, despite it knowing that it will not be a short one.

“We did not expect the extent of destruction to be of this volume because we did not know what plots were prepared. We knew that things were being prepared for Syria, and we knew from the beginning of the war that it would be a long war, not an incidental crisis as some thought, but the details, no, no one could expect them.”

The President hailed the country's allies and its friends for standing by Syria, affirming that their position had a vital impact on its steadfastness.

“The friends’ standing by our side had an important impact on the steadfastness of Syria, but friends cannot replace us in the war, in the battle, and in resilience, for the real steadfastness is the steadfastness of the people.”

The Israeli occupation entity will continue to target the Syrian army as long as it [army] continues to fight the terrorists and obstruct their plans, the President said when asked about the recent aggressions on the country.

“The truth is that the Syrian army is mainly targeted under the title of the Iranian presence, and it will continue as long as Israel is an enemy, and it will continue as long as we are able to thwart the terrorists’ plans, even partially, because these strikes began when the Syrian army began to achieve victories in the battles it is engaged in, and we take into account that we have not finished from the war yet.”

The past few months have witnessed growing efforts to establish a political roadmap to normalize relations between Syria and Turkey.

Damascus has presented a three-point outline that would guide any potential relations based on the country's sovereignty and interests and include the full "withdrawal of Turkish forces" and an "end to their occupation."

But talks have been at a stalemate in the recent period after Turkey failed to deliver long-standing commitments, especially with regard to ending its support to terrorist groups in Idlib - on top of which is the HTS.

On that matter, the Syrian President said he would not meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan under the latter's conditions, who is aiming to legitimize the presence of his troops that occupy territories in Syria.

“A word without preconditions for a meeting means without an agenda, without an agenda means without preparation, without preparation means without results, so why do Erdogan and I meet?! We want to reach a clear goal. Our goal is the Turkish withdrawal from the Syrian lands, while Erdogan’s goal is to legitimize the presence of the Turkish occupation in Syria. Therefore, the meeting cannot take place under Erdogan’s conditions.”

Commenting on Western-backed media campaigns to plant fear in the nation, the President said the government was aware of these efforts but noted that the priority then was to fight the "existential" battle the country was forced into.

"We, in Syria, were aware of the scenarios that were put and marketed in the media to create a state of terror, so these scenarios were not in our minds in general, especially since we were engaged in an existential battle. The target was not Gaddafi, it was Libya, and it was not Saddam Hussein, it was Iraq. And the target was not President Bashar, it was Syria.”

The Syrian President said the true opposition that the government recognizes is the local one not opposition groups created in foreign countries.

“It is the opposition that is made locally, not that one made externally. Locally made means that it has a popular base, a national program, and a national awareness."

Last May, Syria made its first participation in an Arab League summit in over a decade. President Al-Assad attended the Saudi-hosted conference despite Western criticism over the growing rapprochement between Damascus and Arab countries, especially Riyadh.

Responding to a question regarding the nature of Syria's return to the Arab League, the President stressed that the region's largest political bloc has not yet metamorphosed into an institution in the true sense.

“Will Syria’s return to the Arab League be formal or something else? This depends on the nature of Arab-Arab relations, have they changed? I do not think that it has changed in depth. There is an awareness of the volume of the risks that affect us as Arab countries, but it has not reached the stage of developing solutions, as long as there are no solutions to the problems, then the relationship will remain formal.”

On the growing rapprochement with Arab countries, Al-Assad pointed out flaws within the Arab governments that would hinder the development of strong - as per definition - bilateral relations.

“I can’t predict, I can hope, hope we can build institutions. The problem of the Arabs is that they did not build relations on institutions. Therefore, they did not build institutions, and if we talk about bilateral relations, they are weak for this reason and the collective relationship through the Arab League, because the Arab League did not turn into an institution in the true sense, this is what we see and this is what we hope to be able to overcome.”

Commenting on the American inhumane Caesar Act, the President said this measure has impeded efforts to improve the economy and the nation's living situation but also confirmed that the government has circumvented the sanctions to a great extent.

"We managed in several ways to overcome this “Act,” the biggest obstacle is the destruction of the infrastructure by terrorists, the image of the war in Syria, which prevents any investor from coming to deal with the Syrian market. The biggest obstacle is also time.”

Regarding the Syrian refugees issue, the President said the living conditions in Syria, caused by the grave destruction and Western illegal sanctions, have massively deteriorated. This situation has resulted in the nation lacking basic human needs, which is the main reason preventing the refugees from returning.

"During the past years, nearly half a million refugees returned to Syria, and none of them was imprisoned. Why did this return stop? It stopped because of the situation of the living conditions. How can a refugee return without water, electricity, schools for his children, and no medical treatment? These are the basics of life. This was the reason.”

A drug crisis has recently hit Syria and some of its neighbors, such as Jordan. While the United States and its Western allies have accused Damascus of facilitating the narcotics trades, the main hubs of the illegal operations were areas controlled by terrorists and US proxies.

“The drug trafficking is present and has not stopped, but when there is war and the weakness of the state, this trade could flourish, and those who bear responsibility in this case are the countries that contributed to creating chaos in Syria, not the Syrian State,” the President added.

Al-Assad rejected the Western accusations that Damascus is involved in this matter, saying that fighting terrorism and the infiltration of drugs into the country go hand-in-hand in protecting Syria and its people.

“If we are the ones seeking as a state to encourage the drug trafficking in Syria; This means that we, as a state, encouraged the terrorists to come to Syria and carry out destruction and killing, because the result is the same… If we put the people between terrorism on the one hand and drugs on the other, then we are destroying society and the country with our own hands, where is our interest.”