Local Editor
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad pledged that the army will retake the whole country from terrorists.
However, in an interview with AFP released on Friday, Assad said the process could “take a long time,” stressing that the eventual goal of the government is to liberate the whole country from the control of the terrorists.
“Regardless of whether we can do that or not, this is a goal we are seeking to achieve without any hesitation,” Assad noted. “It makes no sense for us to say that we will give up any part.”
Besides, Assad hinted that it would be possible to “put an end to this problem in less than a year” if all terrorists’ supply routes from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq were cut, otherwise “the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price.”
Although he fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis, the Syrian President stressed that negotiations have nothing to do with uprooting terrorism: “If we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria.”
Relatively, the latest round of talks on the conflict in Syria, which was held in Geneva on February 3, were suspended when the Saudi-backed opposition group, known as the High Negotiations Committee, refused to attend the sessions after the army made significant gains against Takfiri militant groups on several fronts.
With respect to the ground developments, the Syrian president said a major government operation is under way in Aleppo with the aim of cutting off the terrorists’ supply route from Turkey.
“The main battle is about cutting the road between Aleppo and Turkey, for Turkey is the main conduit of supplies for the terrorists.” Meanwhile, the Syrian president blamed the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe on the continent itself.
He also called on Europe’s governments “which have been a direct cause for the emigration of these people, by giving cover to terrorists in the beginning and through sanctions imposed on Syria, to help in making the Syrians return to their country.”
Assad dismissed UN allegations of government war crimes as politicized and groundless.
Source: Al-Ahed news
