Bashar al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-AssadLevantine pronunciation: ; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba'ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party's branch in Syria. On 10 July 2000, he was elected president succeeding Hafez al-Assad, his father, who had led Syria for 30 years and died in office a month prior. In both the Syrian presidential election, 2000 and subsequent 2007 election, Bashar Assad received votes in his...
NationalitySyrian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth11 September 1965
CityDamascus, Syria
CountrySyrian Arab Republic
This is the Middle East, where every week you have something new; so whatever you talk about this week will not be valuable next week.
None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel.
As soon as the legitimate Lebanese government is convinced that the conditions have ripened and that Lebanon is able to maintain stability on its own... Then, the Syrian forces will return to their homeland.
People do not only live on interests; they also live on beliefs, especially in very ideological areas. Unless you understand the ideological aspect of the region, you cannot understand what is happening.
Lebanon was under Israeli occupation, up to its capital, but we did not consider that a disaster. Why? Because it was very clear that there are ways to resist.
When our interests matched, the Americans have been good to us, and when the interests differed, they wanted us to mold ourselves to them, which we refused.
If you want to talk about mistakes, every country has mistakes, every government has mistakes, every person has mistakes. When you have a war, you have more mistakes. That's the natural thing.
Under Syrian law, a journalist is not allowed to report on military matters. This may be wrong or right, but that's just the way it is.
Simply naming objectives isn't sufficient for a vision. If I say that I'm going to build a large palace, but I don't have any money to do so, then that is not a vision - it's an illusion.
The United States doesn't have the will to work against al-Nusra or even ISIS, because they believe that this is a card they can use for their own agenda. If they attack al-Nusra or ISIS, they will lose a very important card regarding the situation in Syria.
But for us, in Syria, we have principles. We'll do anything to prevent the region from another crazy war. It's not only Syria. Because it will start in Syria...
Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.
If you ask Americans whether they've been successful at sealing the border with Mexico, they'll tell you that it's a very difficult proposition.
I don't believe the United States will be ready to join Russia in fighting terrorists in Syria.