The army is made of the people ; it cannot be made of robots.
BASHAR AL-ASSADThe army is made of the people ; it cannot be made of robots.
BASHAR AL-ASSADRussia is very important, Iran is very important, Hezbollah is very important. All of them are important. Each one made important achievements against the terrorists in Syria, so it’s difficult to say who is more important than the other.
BASHAR AL-ASSADForeigners cannot bring freedom, cannot bring democracy, because this is related to the culture, to the different factors that affect or influence that society. You cannot bring it, you cannot import it.
BASHAR AL-ASSADYou cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.
BASHAR AL-ASSADDid the President order anyone to kill civilians, did he order the destruction, did he order supporting terrorism in his country? Of course not.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWhy should you use a term [rebels] in the United States and England and maybe other countries and use another term in Syria ? This is a double standard that we don’t accept.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe are facing an external attack against us, which is more dangerous than any other previous wars… We are dealing with those who are extremists, who only know the language of killing and criminality.
BASHAR AL-ASSADFrom Russia for example, we have political support, which is different from the cooperation. We have cooperation for 60 years now, but now we have political support.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe’re talking about one region, bigger regions, not only about Syria. This interlinked region, this intermingled, interlocked, whatever you want to call it ; if you strike somewhere, you have to expect the repercussions somewhere else in different forms in ways you don’t expect.
BASHAR AL-ASSADCircumstances don’t matter, only my state of being matters. What state of being are you choosing?
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe asked for a delegation [of the Red Cross] in March 2013 when the first attack happened in Aleppo in the north of Syria,
BASHAR AL-ASSAD[It is important] to have stability and to have security, which means humanitarian equals fighting terrorists. You cannot talk about humanitarian aid and supporting the terrorists at the same time. You cannot, you have to choose.
BASHAR AL-ASSADBefore the 11th of September, in my discussions with many officials of the United States, some of them are Congressmen, I used to say that “don’t deal with terrorists as playing games.” It’s a different story. You’re going to pay the price if you’re not wise in dealing with terrorists.
BASHAR AL-ASSADAs 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.
BASHAR AL-ASSADIran doesn’t have any soldier in Syria, so how could Iran help me ?
BASHAR AL-ASSADIsrael does not care about the international public opinion.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD