Bashar al-Assad

“ Do you condemn the Muslim ban and the building of the wall between the United States and Mexico?
Regarding Syria, as it was just mentioned by President Trump, is France ready to talk directly with Bashar al-Assad in the negotiation that you mentioned?
(In English.) You’ve mentioned a friend, Jim, who told you that Paris is no longer Paris. You were implying at the time that Paris was not safe anymore. You’ve also said that France and Germany are infected by terrorism and “it’s their fault because they let people enter their territory.” Those are very strong words. Would you repeat them today? ”

“ What happens when areas of the country where chemical weapons are stored are overrun by elements of the jihadist-linked opposition who get them and pass them to al-Qaeda? What happens when, to try to secure some of those weapons and not let them get into the hands of the opposition, Assad gives them to his ally, Hezbollah, which tries to take them for potential use against Israel or elsewhere? ”

“ I accept the judgment of the Joint Intelligence Committee. It has concluded that
“there are no plausible alternative scenarios to regime responsibility.”
We have known for years—this is by Assad’s own admission—that Syria has chemical weapons. Intelligence leads us to believe that they can be delivered on a variety of platforms. To those who are not persuaded by the need to relieve the humanitarian crisis and who say, “Intervention has nothing to do with us; it will play into the hands of al-Qaeda”, I say that the reverse is true. We can and must intervene. ”

“ We gave ammunition, brothers, in order to stop the fighting. At one time, the balance of forces was not equal and fighting could not have stopped. This is why we were compelled to give weapons and ammunition. We gave weapons to those who are attacking us and denying our efforts and sacrifices-those who denied and are denying the past and present efforts and sacrifices of this people, although these efforts and stands are clear like the sun and are known, remembered and realized by every child not only in Syria but also in most countries of the Arab homeland. ”

“ It is obvious that this is not possible. It is obvious that Syria does not move without conviction. It is obvious that nobody can drag Syria into a position it does not want. This must be clear everywhere. ”

“ Why should we get involved at all in a place that's so complicated and where, as one person wrote to me, "those who come after Assad may be enemies of human rights"? It's true that some of Assad's opponents are extremists. But al-Qaeda will only draw strength in a more chaotic Syria if people see the world doing nothing to prevent innocent civilians from being gassed to death. The majority of the Syrian people—and the Syrian opposition we work with—just want to live in peace, with dignity and freedom. ”

“ The battles we fought against the enemy for the sake of the Palestinian resistance are numerous. These battles continue daily. Our relations with our Arab brothers had always deteriorated because of our attitude toward the resistance.
Who has done for the resistance what Syria has? Who has sacrificed for the resistance as much as Syria sacrificed? What Arab country other than Syria entered in warlike operations with another Arab country? All of us remember our fighting with our brothers in Jordan, who are our closest brothers. ”

“ As they were in such a situation--our soldiers with the compatriots in Sidon, with the women and children--the- gunmen of the organizations poured fire on our soldiers and the children and women as well on the vehicles, killing whoever they could and destroying whatever they could. These are facts, brothers, examples of actions which this people must be aware of so that they may know who the people are who are now disavowing every value and every effort and sacrifice this people and the heroic Army of Syria have made. ”

“ We have brothers from Lebanon in our midst, and they are aware how much harm has been done to those soldiers, some of whom have been killed and some have been arrested. Everybody is aware that those soldiers have had nothing to do with all that has happened. The fighting is taking place in Beirut among the factions but the eyes of these soldiers are watching the Israeli Air Force to fight it should it attack the Palestinian camps. ”

“ You have heard, I believe, those who say that Syria is plotting with the United States in Lebanon. They say it is an American-Syrian plot. I can very clearly, frankly, proudly and confidently say that if Syria agreed to the U.S. plans in the area or even if Syria adopted a neutral stand in these plans, they would have faced no problems in the Arab area. [applause] Our stand on Lebanon and the Lebanese problem or issue is as firm and principled as it is on the Palestinian question. We will be neither courteous nor will we bargain. ”

“ As if Syria has to extend aid to whoever wishes it, to offer arms, ammunition, and even soldiers to whoever asks for them, irrespective of its national interests and irrespective of our national objectives and aspirations as well as our opinion about national interests. Syria is against the firing yet they expect us to offer them arms so that they will continue the firing. Syria believes that the path being followed is the one of conspiracy ”

“ The mujahadeen’s failure to expand the jihad to the countryside made targeting significantly easier for the regime. The Assad government used siege tactics to wear down the insurgency. Allepo, Damascus and Hama—all major urban centers—became the battlefields in this struggle. Because the movement was so heavily concentrated in the cities, the regime had a much easier time isolating the various wings and destroying them.
It is critical for an insurgency to avoid isolation from a supportive population or containment. ”

“ Despite this, we continued to halt the [Syrian] forces. We continued to halt the forces and gave orders to the soldiers that they should only defend themselves and that, in their own defense, their action should be most limited. Bothers, they were infantry soldiers who have no artillery, tanks or any means of support that are usually found in army formations. We did not give them support at all. Despite the presence of the Syrian Air Force over Beirut, we did not permit the air force to fire a single shot either in Beirut or in any part of Lebanon. ”

“ However, if decisive military action was intended to create a state of repression in the Lebanese arena, then this matter, if achieved, would have extremely grave repercussions. If we strike at the conspiracy from one end, decisive military action, if achieved, would bring about the objectives of the conspiracy from the other end. Decisive military action in this sense, if achieved, would first result in a new problem in Lebanon and in this area. ”

“ Can any British Government have ever imagined sending their men and women to war with the support of only 11% of the public?
There is no compelling evidence—to use the Leader of the Opposition’s words—that the Assad regime is responsible for this crime, yet. It is not that the regime is not bad enough to do it; everybody knows that it is bad enough to do it. The question is: is it mad enough to do it? Is it mad enough to launch a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on the very day on which a United Nations chemical weapons inspection team arrives there? ”

“ Any time it sees the circumstances opportune to expand and commit aggression, it will expand and commit aggression. This is what experience has confirmed ever since Israel was established. In our position regarding the events in Lebanon, we will in no way take into consideration what Israel might do. We will perform our duties toward Lebanon fully at all times, and we will do everything in our power to halt the fighting because it is a fight among factions of our kinsmen and family. ”

“ We in the United States are concerned that Syria might get the impression that the absence of an open Israeli reaction means lack of Israeli concern regarding the Syrian actions, contrary to what we constantly communicated to Damascus during the past weeks--that is to say, this matter is not just a question of a communication which took them 1 hour to convey to us--contrary to what we constantly communicated to Damascus during the past weeks. ”

“ He removes injustice from himself and from others. This is a revolutionary. This is a Moslem. The true Moslem is the true revolutionary. Islam is the greatest revolution in the history of our Arab nation and of humanity. [applause]
Brothers, Kamal Junblatt emerged from this meeting and left me with the impression that he insisted on fighting. I told him: Do not count on any help. We cannot march with you on a path which we both agree upon in advance is the path of the conspiracy. On the next day, rather on the same day, I invited Yasir 'Arafat. ”

“ Syria will remain a bright beacon to guide all the strugglers of our Arab nation. [applause] We in this country shall remain noble and dignified, acting on the basis of our principle and ideals. We do not flatter or compromise our aims and principles. We embody the pride, dignity and message of our Arab nation. [applause]
Every hand that attempts to harm the dignity and pride of this great people, who are sacrificing all they have for the sake of their pride and the pride of their nation, shall be severed. ”

“ The fighting stopped after Dean Brown's arrival in Beirut. Certainly, as an Arab, I thank any person in the world who can stop the firing in Lebanon. What is important is for the tragedy and the conspiracy to end. However, it is surprising that the firing was suspended only after Dean Brown's arrival. By these words I would like to say that if the United States wants to stop the firing and seeks to end it, we welcome this. If any foreign or Arab state is seeking to stop the firing and can end it, we welcome this. ”

“ The world would sympathize with the problem because the world always sympathizes with the oppressed. This is the first result that would ensue from decisive military action as they want it--if they can achieve it. ”

“ But we cannot accept this from any Palestinian Arab citizen. We absolutely refuse to allow any Palestinian Arab citizen tell us: Get out of Lebanon. It is not only us but also all the Arabs who refuse this.
Syria's sacrifices for the sake of Palestine were not made for the sake of so-and-so and will not be for their sake in the future, if they want us to disavow the Palestinian cause, then they have erred in their judgment. If they want us to disavow the idea of the resistance, they have erred in their intentions. The issue is sacred as far as we are concerned. ”

“ The offenses they have committed against Syria through their offenses against the Syrian soldiers have not been committed by anyone else. They have offended not just the soldiers who were present in Beirut airport. In the camps there are brothers. Three years ago we sent our soldiers to defend the Palestinian camps in Lebanon. We sent materiel with the Syrian soldiers 3 years ago to defend the Palestinian camps in Beirut, in the south and in Tripoli--these soldiers, who have been living in the camps for 3 years now, have been gravely harmed. ”

“ We will not move without conviction. We will not compromise our principles and objectives. We will not adopt any decisions without giving due consideration to our national and pan-Arab interests. [applause] Syria is the land of steadfastness. Whoever supports steadfastness must support Syria. Syria is the land of liberation. Whoever supports liberation must support Syria. Syria is the land of nationalism and progress. Whoever supports nationalism and progress must support Syria. Syria is the land of Palestinian struggle. Whoever supports the Palestinian struggle must support Syria. ”

“ Naturally, all of us realize--all of you, realize--that we could easily counter such actions with decisive and crushing measures. We could have destroyed whatever we liked and purged every place of those persons, killed whomever we could and whomever we wanted, but we did not do so. ”

“ There were provisions on equality for all, the establishment of a constitutional court, economic and social reforms, the Arabism of Lebanon, giving citizenship, canceling religious sectarianism and many other things which, as we know, were part of the problems in the past. But there are people who want to keep these problems because they thrived on them. Some of' the armed people in Lebanon today are against security. If security is achieved, they will be out of work. ”

“ This means that the United States supports Syria's intervention in Lebanon, especially the armed intervention. I repeat this passage: Our careful view, in short, and I would like to make sure that we are not misunderstood in this, is that Israel will consider the intervention of foreign armed forces a very grave threat so that no matter what we say to it, it might intervene. This is a situation which we clearly want to avoid. ”

“ As for Syria, it is not a foreign presence as far as Lebanon is concerned, and Lebanon is not a foreign presence as far as Syria or Jordan or Saudi Arabia end so forth are concerned. The Arabs are one nation and Israel is a stranger to this nation and it has no connection with its aims. ”

“ To say that we are demanding a democratic state in which Moslems, Christians, and Jews can live, whether they are Arabs or not, is a question which can be reasoned about. But when Lebanon is partitioned, the Israelis will say we do not believe these Arabs: If they could not coexist together, if the Moslem Arab could not coexist with the Christian Arab, how then can they coexist with the Jews and the non-Arab Jews who came from all parts of the world, from the West and the East. ”