Assad: Hope to end Syria war greater than ever

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said today that hope to end the war in Syria is greater than ever.

In an interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List, Al-Assad said there has been significant progress in the fight against terrorism and towards reconciliation in Syria, which has contributed to increasing the probability of ending the war in Syria.

He explained: “This has been possible so far through two practical approaches. The first is fighting terrorism, regardless of the different names and categories given to terrorist organisations, and the second is through achieving reconciliations with all those who want to lay down their weapons, return to their normal life, and to the embrace of their country.

Al-Assad said his regime will view any intervention by any soldier or an individual without the permission of the Syrian government as an “invasion”.

Any intervention, even the existence of any individual soldier, without the permission of the Syrian government, is an invasion in every sense of the word. And any intervention, from the air or otherwise, is also an illegitimate intervention and an aggression on Syria.

Remarking on the so-called “moderate opposition in Syria”, he said “Western officials, most prominently former US President Obama, said that the moderate opposition was an illusion or a fantasy. This is by their admission, they, who supported that opposition and gave it a false moderate cover. So, this moderate opposition does not exist.”

“We do that because, in the beginning, many people did not believe that these groups do not want to lay down their weapons and move towards political action. We went in order to prove to all those who have doubts about this that these groups cannot engage in politics, and that they are terrorist groups at heart and will remain so to the end.”