“I don’t believe in war, I believe in the principle of deterrence.”

When people interact and integrate with each other on daily basis in every detail. So, I think in this regard I am more assured that Syria will be more unified. So, the only problem now that we face is not the partition, but terrorism.

If it’s not a national army, it cannot have the support, and if it doesn’t have the public support of every sect, it cannot do its job and advance recently. It cannot. The army of the family doesn’t make national war.

When you have terrorists, you don’t throw at them balloons or you don’t use rubber sticks, for example. You have to use armaments.

I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.

I don’t believe that in a couple of months Erdogan and the United States regime, and the Western regimes in general, and of course Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are going to stop the support of the terrorists.

We’ve been living in difficult circumstances and we prepare ourselves for every possibility. But that doesn’t mean if you’re prepared things will be better ; it’s going to get worse with any foolish strike or stupid war.

I will tell [Barack Obama] very simply : present what you have as evidence to the public, be transparent.

As I said, this [repercussions] may take different forms : direct and indirect. Direct when people want to retaliate, or governments. Indirect when you’re going to have instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the west directly.

When you talk about cooperation, it means cooperation between two legal governments, not cooperation between foreign government and any faction within Syria.

The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.

We’ve been dealing with this kind of terrorism since the fifties, since the Muslim Brotherhood came to Syria at that time.

Many people do not understand the difference between peace and a peace treaty. If you want to have real peace with normal relations between people, you need to have comprehensive peace.

We believe that Lebanon has been the first real experience for all the Arabs.

What the army is doing is cleaning those areas, and the indication that the army is strong is that it’s making advancement in that area. It never went to one area and couldn’t enter to it – that’s an indication.

Terrorists have been supported by tens of foreign countries, so Syria alone wouldn’t be able to face this kind of war without the help of its friends.

When you’re in the middle of a storm, leaving your country just because you have to leave without any reasonable reason, it means you’re quitting your country and this is treason.

The world has to change to fit you. And if you stick to your principles, values and morals long enough, it will.

If you want spiritual life you have to pay the price. The price is the four regulative principles.

Principles have a way of yielding to power.

There is a close logical connection between the concept of a safety margin and the principle of diversification.

I’m different in the sense that every minute of every day, I change. I’m thinking. But the basic principles that have powered me forward are still there. They’re not different.

An ill principle in the mind is worse than the matter of a disease in the body.

If I’ve learned any one lesson from life, it’s this: If you don’t stand for something, you will stand for anything.

What Americans were really objecting to had nothing to do with constitutional principles. their objection was not to Parliament’s constitutional right to levy certain kinds of taxes as opposed to others, but to its effort to collect any.