From the first day I took the decision as President to defend my country. So, who killed ? That’s another question.
BASHAR AL-ASSADFrom the first day I took the decision as President to defend my country. So, who killed ? That’s another question.
BASHAR AL-ASSADTerrorism is a state of mind that on the one hand has to do with ignorance and, on the other hand, can be attributed to a feeling of desperation over the political situation, which at some point takes the form of revenge.
BASHAR AL-ASSADLook at the results of regime change in Iraq. You can’t possibly claim that it was successful.
BASHAR AL-ASSADTo have opposition ? We have it, and you can go and meet with them. We have some of them within the government, we have some of them outside the government. They are opposition. We have it.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe’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.
BASHAR AL-ASSADAt the end, I said [chemical weapons] is something not to be discussed with anyone.
BASHAR AL-ASSADAny external support, if you want to call it support, let’s use this world, is… how to say… it’s going to be additional, but it’s not the base to depend on more than the Syrian support.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe don’t discuss this issue [conversations with Russia] as a government, but we discuss the repercussions, which is more important because sometimes repercussions could be more destroying than the strike itself.
BASHAR AL-ASSADTrust that the thing in life that excites you the most comes complete with all the tools necessary to support you in the doing of that thing. It is automatic; it is built in. All you need to do is act on the opportunities that doing that situation brings to you.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWe feel pain for every Syrian victim.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWhen you talk about Al-Qaeda it doesn’t matter if he’s Syrian or American or from Europe or from Asia or Africa.
BASHAR AL-ASSADWhen you use an armament, you use it to defend the civilians. You kill terrorists in order to defend civilians. That’s the natural role of any army in the world.
BASHAR AL-ASSADRegarding fighting terrorism, we are ready to cooperate with anyone in this world with no conditions. That’s crux of our policy, not today, not yesterday; for years, even before the war on Syria, we always said that.
BASHAR AL-ASSADThe problem with the West is that they start with political reform going towards democracy. If you want to go towards democracy, the first thing is to involve the people in decision making, not to make it.
BASHAR AL-ASSADIn the initiative that we issued at the beginning of year 2013 we said every party with no exceptions as long as they give up their armaments.
BASHAR AL-ASSADAnyone who’s not military knows this fact. Why do you use chemical weapons while you’re advancing ?
BASHAR AL-ASSAD