Alwaght- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called on Western countries to stop supporting terrorists in order to end the worsening refuges crisis in Europe.
In an interview with the Moscow-based Interfax news agency on Tuesday, Assad stressed that, “It’s not about that Europe didn’t accept them or embrace them as refugees, it’s about not dealing with the cause. If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. That’s what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees.”
“If we ask any Syrian today about what they want, the first thing they would say – ‘We want security and safety for every person and every family’,” the Syrian president said, adding that political forces, whether inside or outside the government “should unite around what the Syrian people want.”
Assad further noted that eradicating terrorism in the Middle Eastern country must be a prelude to the resolution of dialog as a means to end the crisis in the country.
The Syrian leader said dialog in his country should continue “in order to reach the consensus,” stressing that agreement cannot be reached on how to resolve the crisis “unless we defeat the terrorism in Syria.”
“If you want to implement anything real, it’s impossible to do anything while you have people being killed, bloodletting hasn’t stopped, people feel insecure,” Assad said, adding, “Only through dialog and the political process can we reach political goals that the Syrians should set for themselves.”
About 2,500 of the more than 300,000 people who have used sea routes to reach Europe this year have died, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says.
Most of the refugees who risk their lives to reach Europe are reportedly fleeing conflict-hit zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.
The Syrian government has repeatedly called on countries supporting and funding the terrorists operating in the country, particularly Western countries led by the US and its regional allies including the Israeli regime, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, to stop their hostile practice.