“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.”

This is reality. If [the American officials] want to believe, that’s good, that will help them understand the region and be more successful in their policies.

Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East. That is why we are in contact with most of the problems forever, let us say, whether directly or indirectly.

We can say, you can win the war only when you restore stability in Syria.

We learned that lesson very well, especially in the eighties, that terrorists cannot be used as a political card, you cannot put it in your pocket, because it’s like a scorpion; it will bite you someday.

A bomb is a bomb, what’s the difference between different kinds of bombs? All bombs are to kill, but it’s about how to use it.

Hezbollah fighters are on the borders with Lebanon where the terrorists attacked them. On the borders with Lebanon, this is where Hezbollah retaliated, and this is where we have cooperation, and that’s good.

How can you be afraid to feel? Isn’t fear a feeling? If you’re feeling fear, you’ve felt one of the most negative emotions there is to feel.

With the time, yes we can be worried, because the secular state should reflect secular society, and this secular society, with the time, if you don’t get rid of those terrorists and these extremists and the Wahabi style, of course it will influence at least the new and the coming generations.

There’s a video on YouTube where the terrorists clearly make trials [of chemical weapons] on a rabbit and kill the rabbit and said “this is how we’re going to kill the Syrian people.”

You want me to believe American evidence and don’t want me to believe the indications that we have. We live here, this is our reality.

You cannot be desperate when the army is making advances. That should have happened – if we take into consideration that this presumption is correct and this is reality – you use it when you’re in a desperate situation.

The question is who threw chemicals on the same day on our soldiers. That’s the same question. Technically, not the soldiers. Soldiers don’t throw missiles on themselves. So, either the rebels, the terrorists, or a third party. We don’t have any clue yet.

We are worried that rebels are taking control in many countries, and look at the results now. Are you satisfied as an American ? What are the results ? Nothing. Very bad – nothing good.

Our democracy should reflect our culture and our habits and our customs and our reality at the same time.

There is no such things as “Islamic terrorism,” because terrorism differs from Islam. There’s just terrorism, not Islamic terrorism. But the term “Islamic terrorism” has become widespread.

Before 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.