Assad: UK, US, France prolonging war in Syria

The UK, US and France are backing the civil defence forces in Syria to attack civilians, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday published yesterday.

Asked whether he agreed with Russia that Britain was “helping stage the attack that took place in Douma” through the White Helmets’ organisation, Al-Assad said:  “To be completely frank and stark, Britain and France are political satellites to the US. The UK publicly supported the White Helmets that are a branch of Al Qaeda, Al-Nusra, in different areas of Syria. They [Britain] spent a lot of money, and we consider the White Helmets to be a PR stunt by the UK. So yes, definitely, it was staged by these three countries together, and the UK is involved.”

Douma was site of a suspected chemical weapon attack by Syrian and Russian forces in April, scores of civilians were killed in the attack which led the US, France and the UK to strike regime sites in the country.

“The British government should first prove with evidence that the attack happened, and then they should prove who is responsible – of course this did not happen.”

The US and UK’s actions in Syria are “an invasion, they are breaching the sovereignty of Syria”, Al-Assad continued, adding that “the Russians were invited by the Syrian government, their existence in Syria is a legitimate existence, the same for the Iranians.”

Adviser to Assad: Syria is ready for war with the West

The purpose of Western nations’ intervention in Syria, “the main goal”, Al-Assad explained, “is regime change”.

“This is colonial policy, that’s how we see it, and this is not new. They have never changed this policy since the old way of colonialism that existed in the beginning of the 20th century and the 19th century and before, but today it’s covered by, let’s say, a new mask, or different masks.”

“The more we advance, the more support the terrorists have from the West,” Al-Assad added, “we were about to achieve reconciliation in the southern part of Syria only two weeks ago, but the West interfered and asked the terrorists not to follow this path in order to prolong the Syrian conflict.”

A civil war erupted in Syria in 2011 after the regime responded heavy-handedly to unarmed popular protests calling for an end to 44-years of Assad family rule in the country and for the instatement of a democracy.