RT Interviews Syria's Assad

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

President Bashar al-Assad remains overwhelming popular in a country ravaged by US-led aggression, war in its 9th year, no near-term resolution in prospect because bipartisan US hardliners reject restoration of peace and stability to the country.

On Monday, Russia's Sergey Lavrov said the following:

"We will insist that the Syrian army occupies the entire territory of its state as quickly as possible. Only this will help put a reliable end to terrorism and resolve all the issues said with a final political settlement," adding:

"As for what the United States is doing in Syria's north…it's an attempt to, in fact, rob Syria and take control over its oil fields…and it brings nothing good to the Syrian settlement."

"It only retains a significant source of concern and a significant threat in this part of Syria."

Trump earlier and more recently saying he intended to withdraw US forces from the country was head-fake deception. Endless US occupation continues in war-torn Syria.

Last week, RT interviewed Assad, his remarks always refreshingly candid and straightforward — polar opposite double-talking Western politicians never to be believed or trusted.

Assad condemned Turkey's invasion of Syrian territory for the third time since the Obama regime launched war on the country in March 2011 — using ISIS and other jihadists as imperial foot soldiers, supported by Pentagon-led terror-bombing since 2014.

He denounced disinformation and Big Lies by US and other Western politicians throughout the war, condemning Western media for repeating them, suppressing reality on the ground.

Assad: "(M)ore than 100,000 Syrian soldiers…were martyred or wounded" since 2011…let alone (countless) tens of thousands of civilians…killed…execut(ed)…kidnapped…killed later or disappeared."

At his request, Russia intervened in September 2015 to help Syrian forces combat the scourge of US-supported terrorism.

He denounced false accusations about use of chemical weapons for Syrian forces — used by jihadists against defenseless civilians, wrongfully blamed on Damascus.

"Every time they (falsely) talk about using the chemical weapons, it is when we advance, not when we lose," he stressed.

"Every story was nothing more than allegation. The one who said there was use of chemical weapons, is the one who should prove his story. He is the one who should offer evidence that it's been used."

"What's the evidence that they have to prove their story? Nothing, they have nothing" — because nothing exists, anti-Syria claims fabricated, not real.

He denounced White Helmets, masquerading as civil defense workers, explaining they're an "offshoot of al-Nusra."

He slammed false accusations of Syrian forces killing civilians, people they're fighting to liberate and protect.

They're combatting US-supported jihadists who terrorize civilians, holding many thousands captive as human shields.

They "bombard civilians on a daily basis," responsible for "hundreds of thousands of" deaths, along with Pentagon-led terror-bombing.

Assad denounced the false notion of peaceful uprisings in 2011 against his government, saying:

"At the very beginning during the demonstrations, during the first few days, we lost five policemen by shooting, by bullets. How could we talk about peaceful demonstrations while you have policemen killed."

"(T)he word 'peaceful demonstrations' was not correct.  There was shooting, and you can't tell who's shooting at police, and who's the one shooting at the civilians, because in most of the incidents at that time, the police didn't have even machine guns or pistols."

He denounced false accusations of Syrian use of torture. "We don't have torture policy in Syria," he stressed.

The vast majority of Syrians support Assad and his government. "(T)hat's why we've been here for nine years in spite of all this aggression by the West."

The Americans "invaded Afghanistan. They got nothing.  They invaded Iraq. They got nothing, and they started to invade other countries but in different ways."  

"They change the way. The problem with the Unites States now is that they fight a survival war from their point of view because they are losing their hegemony. So, they wanted to fight the Russian, the Iranians, the Syrians."

They use "proxies" — ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and other jihadists as foot soldiers.

US manipulation undermined conflict resolution talks in Geneva. "That's why we went to Sochi with the Russians," Assad explained.

He condemned US and Turkish complicity in earlier smuggling of Syrian oil by ISIS. When Trump said he was taking the oil, "he was not talking about something new."

It's been going on throughout most of the war in flagrant violation of international law.

"The Americans always try to loot other countries in different ways regarding not only their oil or money, or financial resources," Assad stressed, adding:  

"They loot their rights, their political rights, every other right.  That's their historical role at least after World War II."  

"So, it's not something new. It's not strange or disconnected from their previous policy, but from time to time it takes different shape, and this shape, looting the oil, is the starkest way of the American policy, looting the rights of other people."

Addressing Israel, he called the Jewish state "our enemy. They occupy our land. (They support ISIS and other) terrorists."

"Every time the Syrian army advanced against those Al-Nusra terrorists in the south, Israel used to bombard our troops, and whenever we advance somewhere else in Syria, their airplanes started committing air strikes against our army. That's what's happening."

On relations with the West, Assad stressed that he has none with countries involved with US aggression.

He denounced false accusations of Syrian and Russian aerial operations killing civilians — how the US, NATO, Israel and the Saudis operate, not Damascus and Moscow.

In all his interviews, Assad stresses that his goal is to liberate all Syrian territory from illegal foreign occupation — what it'll take to restore peace and stability to the country.

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