Syrian PM to al-Ahed: We Look Forward to Boosting Ties with Iran
Tehran - Mokhtar Berto
The Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi reiterated that his country is looking forward to boosting ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran as President Hassan Rouhani officially steps into office.
In an interview with al-Ahed News website, al-Halqi indicated that his country does not depend on the Geneva 2 conference despite the government announcing its readiness to participate.
"The solution is in the hands of the Syrian people," he underscored. "President Bashar al-Assad launched an initiative that marked a political solution to be implemented in three phases, and internal deliberation led to satisfying results of a comprehensive national conference on Syrian lands for all parties."
Speaking about the strong Iranian-Syrian ties, al-Halqi said, "These rooted ties were built by His Eminence the Esteemed Imam Khomeini and the Eternal Hafez al-Assad, and continued with achievements until President Bashar al-Assad took office and presented an added value to previous accomplishments."
In an indication to President Hassan Rohani stepping into office, al-Halqi remarked, "We look forward to boosting ties and we must add an added value to all that was built in President Ahmadinejad's term. This is what we noticed in our meeting with the President and new and old leaderships of the Islamic Republic."
"As you know, Iran is an institutional government, however, there is a fixated structure that the Islamic Revolution was built on, and it has become an embedded policy for Syria and Iran," he added. "We hope that these ties continue with more relations serving our peoples, especially economically."
Al-Halqi further regarded that Syria has been witnessing a crisis for more than 28 months, escalating every day as a result of the oppressing war led by armed terrorist groups and backed by dark and arrogant forces in the world - chiefly the United States and other regional countries like Turkey and Arab countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
"They could never succeed politically, and now they are pressuring us on the economic level," he added.
The Syrian PM stressed that in light of President Hassan Rohani's government, "we will try to boost these ties through economy and trade."
"We also announced the Syrian government's acceptance in participating in the Geneva 2 conference more than two months ago, although we do not entirely depend on reaping fast and satisfactory results in this conference," al-Halqi argued. "However, upon the request of our friends, chiefly the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia and China, and upon our desire to show good will as a Syrian government, we decided to go to Geneva 2 despite our conviction that the other side does not possess all requirements to make this conference work."
"As you know, the foreign opposition is not unified and divided... so the Syrian people do not expect any results from [the conference]," he emphasized.
"This opposition and the so-called ‘Coalition' have no popular rates, according to a study conducted by Mr. Mokhtar Almani, head of al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi's office," the Syrian PM remarked, adding that the so-called opposition only reflects "5% of the Syrian people."
As for the rest of the armed terrorist groups, they belong to al-Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, according to Wael al-Halqi.
Referring to the deliberations regarding a possible national conference, al-Halqi affirmed, "I was assigned with a part of the government to initiate these deliberations and we reached satisfying results, paving the way for a national dialogue conference on Syria territories with a comprehensive view."
However, al-Halqi mentioned that "the political initiative that President Bashar al-Assad launched does not oppose Geneva 2, but rather completes it with a set of step towards a political solution."
Yet, he stressed that "there is no political solution without obliterating terrorism."
"We are working on two parallel lines; fighting terrorism and a political initiative that can accomplish a political solution in Syria," the PM added.
"We are working on two parallel lines; fighting terrorism and a political initiative that can accomplish a political solution in Syria," the PM added.
As for the Syrian response to the Zionist entity's assault on Syria, he said, "There was a response days after the Jamraya incident when they targeted the scientific research center. Ever since, the armed forces and political leadership in Syria announced that we will respond to any source of fire."
"Indeed, days after, an "Israeli" vehicle attempted to enter the Syrian territories through the Golan Heights to test the Syrian Armed Forces' reaction, and the response was that the Forces burnt and destroyed [the vehicle]."
The Syrian PM Wael al-Halqi concluded, "We declared as a government and military leadership that we will not allow our airspace to be violated by Zionist planes and we have the ability to defend our sovereignty and land. When "Israel" gets involved, it will find a conclusive response at the right time."
Source: al-Ahed News, translated by website team
