Alwaght- Syrian President says the statements issued by western countries show that they care more about saving terrorists than civilian population in the northern city of Aleppo.
Bashar Assad also condemned western countries for their lackluster reaction to the renewed attack on the ancient Palmyra city by the ISIS terrorists.
In an interview with the Russian RT channel, the Syrian president said terrorists timed the Palmyra attack to undermine national army’s big victory in Aleppo.
“[The Palmyra offensive of] ISIS, if you look at the timing of their attack is related to what is happening in Aleppo. This is the response to what is happening in Aleppo – the advancement of the Syrian Arab Army – and they wanted to undermine the victory in Aleppo,” Assad said.
“At the same time to distract the Syrian Army from Aleppo to make it more toward Palmyra and stop the advancement. But, of course, it did not work,” he added.
President Assad warned against taking statements by western governments at face value, saying “It’s always important in politics to read between the lines, not to be literal. It doesn’t matter what they ask. The translation of their statement is for Russia [to] please, stop the advancement of the Syrian Army against the terrorists”.
“That is the meaning of their statement, forget about the rest: You went too far in defeating the terrorists, that shouldn’t happen. You should tell the Syrians to stop this. We have to keep the terrorists and to save them,” he added.
About the western indifference on the recent ISIS attack on Palmyra, he said “if it was captured by the government they would be worrying about the heritage. If we liberate Aleppo from the terrorists, the western officials and the mainstream media, they are going to be worrying about the civilians. They do not worry when the opposite happens, when the terrorists are killing those civilians or attacking Palmyra and destroying the human heritage, not only the Syrian heritage.”
