Alwaght- Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed the US, the UK, and France for supporting terrorists bloodshed in the war-torn country, while rejecting Western claims that he has been attacking his own people.
The terrorists, whom the Syrian military is fighting with the help of its allies, are “supported by the British government, the French government and the American [government] and their puppets whether in Europe or in our region," President Assad said in an interview with published Sunday.
Assad told Mail "The West supported the war from the very beginning and he supported the terrorists, who started exploding everywhere and killing everyone and beheading [people]. The West supported Al-Qaeda."
Assad reiterated the uprising against his rule was part of a plot to remove a leader that did not go along with Western policies in the region. Syria is allied with Iran and Russia, and has had turbulent relations with the West. Syria is technically at war with Israeli regime, which occupies the Syrian Golan Heights, but a cease-fire has largely held since the 1970s.
"The whole approach toward Syria in the West is, 'we have to change this government; we have to demonize this president, because they don't suit our policies anymore," Assad said.
The Syrian president rejected accusations that he was behind the chemical attacks against civilians on Syrian soil and other repressions, saying "It doesn’t even hold together – this narrative”. He added that the war against the terrorists has been underway for seven years and he has been in charge of the country all this time because “this president… has support of his own people. How could he have the support, while he’s killing the same people?"
"We are fighting them, and we have public support in Syria to fight those terrorists. That's why we are advancing. We cannot make these advances just because we have Russian and Iranian support," he explained.
"They tell lies, they talk about chemical weapons. They talk about the bad president killing good people, freedom and peaceful demonstrations."
During the conflict, the West backed the so-called “moderate opposition” units in Syria, that, on many occasions, were almost impossible to distinguish from the jihadist groups. It was used by ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra to get possession of an abundance of US and British-made arms, which they used against the government and population.
On several occasions, the US-led coalition carried out strikes against Syrian government forces, which were claimed to have been carried out by mistake, but they were swiftly exploited by the terrorists.
"It’s not the role of the West to tell us, who’s responsible in Syria. He interfered in sovereign country and is responsible of the killing in our country regardless of his narrative and his lies,” the Syrian leader said.
Assad also dismissed reports that Israeli regime has conducted recent airstrikes in Syria with tacit Russian cooperation.
"Russia never coordinated with anyone against Syria, either politically or militarily," Assad said. "How could they help the Syrian Army advancing and at the same time work with our enemies in order to destroy our army?"
Israeli regime carried out last month a wave of airstrikes against Syrian military bases that were allegedly managed by Iranian forces. The lack of any Russian response, despite the heavy Russian presence in the skies over Syria, suggested that Moscow might have been notified ahead of time.
In recent weeks, the Syrian government and its allies have made considerable military gains, including bringing the entire capital and its suburbs under full government control for the first time since the war began.
