Assad: ‘I’m not attacking people, I’m defending them’

SwissInfo ^ | Oct 20, 2016

[NCjim]

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad told Swiss public television, SRF, that fighting ‘terrorists’ in Aleppo was the only way of ‘protecting civilians’. He denied government forces bombed hospitals indiscriminately and dismissed allegations of the army’s use of chemical weapons.

“According to the constitution, according to the law, we have to protect people, we have to get rid of those terrorists from Aleppo. This is where we can protect the civilians,” Assad told SRF in the interview broadcast on Wednesday.

"How can you protect them while they are under the control of terrorists? They've been killed by them, and they've been controlled fully by the terrorists. Is it our role to sit aside and watch, if that's how we can protect the Syrian people? We need to attack the terrorists, that's self-evident."

The Syrian military said on Thursday that a unilateral ceasefire backed by Russia had come into force to allow people to leave besieged eastern Aleppo. It’s a move that the rebels have said was part of a psychological campaign to get them to surrender. Intensified Russian and Syrian bombing of besieged rebel-held parts of Aleppo in the last few weeks has hit hospitals, bakeries and water pumping stations, and killed hundreds of civilians.

[MGG]

As Trump stated last night. We do not know who the “Rebels” are. Most likely they are Mercenaries hired by the Saudis so that they can get their Natural Gas Pipeline through. However since the Russians and the Turks cemented their agreement for only the Russian Pipelines to go through Turkey. It’s a moot point.

[rjsimmon]

Does the USA oppose Assad simply because The RussianBear is supporting Assad? Does this not mean that the USA will countermand activities in Syria simply based on ideology?

There is an amount of knee-jerk reaction to whatever Russia does, but that is more of our national DNA being anti-Soviet than analytical. Putin is helping Syria because it helps Russia, nothing more, nothing less. He full-well realizes that the fight is outside of his borders: when he fights them in another country he fights them less in his.

Really, do we (USA) oppose Assad simply because Putin supports him? That is bad ju-ju my friends, just bad ju-ju.

Concur.