Don't blame me for Isis, says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Ruler fighting war against both rebels and Islamic State says Paris
attackers might have trained in his country but group ‘started in Iraq
and Afghanistan’Bashar al-Assad, right, during the interview for Italian television.
Photograph: Handout/EPA
Ruler fighting war against both rebels and Islamic State says Paris
attackers might have trained in his country but group ‘started in Iraq
and Afghanistan’Bashar al-Assad, right, during the interview for Italian television.
Photograph: Handout/EPA
“I can tell you Daesh doesn’t have the natural incubator, social
incubator, within Syria,” he said in a television interview with Italian
national broadcaster Rai, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
“I can tell you Daesh doesn’t have the natural incubator, social
incubator, within Syria,” he said in a television interview with Italian
national broadcaster Rai, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
Paris attacks: latest evidence points to wider conspiracy
Jihadists who trained in Syria
for the Paris massacres and other attacks had done so due to “the
support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qatari, and of course the
western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”, he
said.
Isis “didn’t start in Syria, it started in Iraq, and it started
before that in Afghanistan”, he said, quoting former British prime
minister Tony Blair as saying “the Iraqi war helped create Isis”.
Blair’s “confession is the most important evidence”, Assad said.
The Paris attacks in which 129 people were killed in a wave of shootings and suicide bombings have galvanised international momentum for a diplomatic solution to Syria’s civil war.
More than 250,000 people have died in the conflict and millions have
fled, while Isis has taken control of territory across Syria and Iraq.
Assad said there could be no transition schedule for elections in Syria while parts of the country were still rebel-controlled.
“This timetable starts after starting defeating terrorism. You cannot
achieve anything politically while you have the terrorists taking over
many areas in Syria,” he said.
“If we talk after that, one year and a half to two years is enough for any transition.”
Assad’s continued grip on power has seriously strained relations
between the US and France – firm backers of Syria’s uprising – and
Russia§, one of the regime’s staunchest allies.
But after the Paris massacres and the downing of a Russian airliner
in a bomb attack also claimed by Isis, the countries have joined forces
against the jihadists, diverting attention at least momentarily from the
question of Assad’s future.
In a fierce retaliation Russian and French air strikes in Syria were reported to have left 33 IS fighters dead in 72 hours.
A US-led air coalition has been waging an air war against Isis for
more than a year, with French strikes in Syria beginning in September.
Moscow launched its own air strikes in Syria, in co-ordination with
Assad, on 30 September.
Jihadists who trained in Syria
for the Paris massacres and other attacks had done so due to “the
support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qatari, and of course the
western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”, he
said.
Isis “didn’t start in Syria, it started in Iraq, and it started before that in Afghanistan”, he said, quoting former British prime minister Tony Blair as saying “the Iraqi war helped create Isis”.
Blair’s “confession is the most important evidence”, Assad said.
The Paris attacks in which 129 people were killed in a wave of shootings and suicide bombings have galvanised international momentum for a diplomatic solution to Syria’s civil war.
More than 250,000 people have died in the conflict and millions have fled, while Isis has taken control of territory across Syria and Iraq.
Assad said there could be no transition schedule for elections in Syria while parts of the country were still rebel-controlled.
“This timetable starts after starting defeating terrorism. You cannot achieve anything politically while you have the terrorists taking over many areas in Syria,” he said.
“If we talk after that, one year and a half to two years is enough for any transition.”
Assad’s continued grip on power has seriously strained relations between the US and France – firm backers of Syria’s uprising – and Russia§, one of the regime’s staunchest allies.
But after the Paris massacres and the downing of a Russian airliner in a bomb attack also claimed by Isis, the countries have joined forces against the jihadists, diverting attention at least momentarily from the question of Assad’s future.
In a fierce retaliation Russian and French air strikes in Syria were reported to have left 33 IS fighters dead in 72 hours.
A US-led air coalition has been waging an air war against Isis for more than a year, with French strikes in Syria beginning in September. Moscow launched its own air strikes in Syria, in co-ordination with Assad, on 30 September.
Isis “didn’t start in Syria, it started in Iraq, and it started before that in Afghanistan”, he said, quoting former British prime minister Tony Blair as saying “the Iraqi war helped create Isis”.
Blair’s “confession is the most important evidence”, Assad said.
The Paris attacks in which 129 people were killed in a wave of shootings and suicide bombings have galvanised international momentum for a diplomatic solution to Syria’s civil war.
More than 250,000 people have died in the conflict and millions have fled, while Isis has taken control of territory across Syria and Iraq.
Assad said there could be no transition schedule for elections in Syria while parts of the country were still rebel-controlled.
“This timetable starts after starting defeating terrorism. You cannot achieve anything politically while you have the terrorists taking over many areas in Syria,” he said.
“If we talk after that, one year and a half to two years is enough for any transition.”
Assad’s continued grip on power has seriously strained relations between the US and France – firm backers of Syria’s uprising – and Russia§, one of the regime’s staunchest allies.
But after the Paris massacres and the downing of a Russian airliner in a bomb attack also claimed by Isis, the countries have joined forces against the jihadists, diverting attention at least momentarily from the question of Assad’s future.
In a fierce retaliation Russian and French air strikes in Syria were reported to have left 33 IS fighters dead in 72 hours.
A US-led air coalition has been waging an air war against Isis for more than a year, with French strikes in Syria beginning in September. Moscow launched its own air strikes in Syria, in co-ordination with Assad, on 30 September.
