Moallem: US Major Player against Syria, Iran A Main Target
Local Editor
Syria's foreign minister Walid Moallem accused the United States of being the "major player" encouraging anti-government rebels.
In an interview published with "The Independent", Moallem stressed that "the US may be using Syria to curb Iran's influence in the Middle East and that it had exaggerated Tehran's nuclear capabilities in order to sell weapons to Gulf countries."
"We believe that the US is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments," he told famous journalist Robert Fisk.
When asked whether the US was using the Syria crisis against Iran, Moallem cited a recent study by influential Washington think-tank the Brookings Institution which concluded that "if you want to contain Iran, you must start with Damascus".
"We were told by some Western envoys at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis," he told Fisk.
The top Syrian diplomat further confirmed that "no one told us why it is forbidden for Syria to have relations with Iran when most if not all the Gulf countries have very important relations with Iran."
Moallem accused the US of assisting the rebels' military effort by supplying them with telecommunication equipment, adding that it was supporting terrorism.
The minister played down suggestions that the Syrian regime would resort to using chemical weapons if its authority was further weakened, saying the government's "responsibility is to protect our people."
To the Europeans, he sent a clear message: "I tell the Europeans: I don't understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people."
And to the Americans, Moallem delivered the following advice: "You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don't understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria'."
"When the Americans say, 'We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications', isn't this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with $25m - and much more from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia?"
On the Syrian crisis, he said: "Before I am a minister, I am a Syrian citizen, and I feel sad at seeing what's happening in Syria, compared with two years ago. There are many Syrians like me - eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security."
"60 per cent of the country's violence comes from abroad, from Turkey, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others," the minister highlighted."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
Syria's foreign minister Walid Moallem accused the United States of being the "major player" encouraging anti-government rebels.
In an interview published with "The Independent", Moallem stressed that "the US may be using Syria to curb Iran's influence in the Middle East and that it had exaggerated Tehran's nuclear capabilities in order to sell weapons to Gulf countries."
"We believe that the US is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments," he told famous journalist Robert Fisk.
When asked whether the US was using the Syria crisis against Iran, Moallem cited a recent study by influential Washington think-tank the Brookings Institution which concluded that "if you want to contain Iran, you must start with Damascus"."We were told by some Western envoys at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis," he told Fisk.
The top Syrian diplomat further confirmed that "no one told us why it is forbidden for Syria to have relations with Iran when most if not all the Gulf countries have very important relations with Iran."
Moallem accused the US of assisting the rebels' military effort by supplying them with telecommunication equipment, adding that it was supporting terrorism.
The minister played down suggestions that the Syrian regime would resort to using chemical weapons if its authority was further weakened, saying the government's "responsibility is to protect our people."
To the Europeans, he sent a clear message: "I tell the Europeans: I don't understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people."
And to the Americans, Moallem delivered the following advice: "You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don't understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria'."
"When the Americans say, 'We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications', isn't this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with $25m - and much more from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia?"
On the Syrian crisis, he said: "Before I am a minister, I am a Syrian citizen, and I feel sad at seeing what's happening in Syria, compared with two years ago. There are many Syrians like me - eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security."
"60 per cent of the country's violence comes from abroad, from Turkey, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others," the minister highlighted."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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