Bashar al-Assad’s full interview with former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot has been posted on the Syrian Presidency’s YouTube page.
Assad claimed 80-90% of the rebels on the ground are al-Queda or from al-Qaeda affiliated groups and enter Syria by traveling to neighboring countries and then crossing the border. He stated the majority of the funding for the opposition comes from individual donors from the Arab world. Similar to claims made by critics of the Obama administration’s and Western powers’ handling of the Syrian conflict, Assad stated at the very beginning of the Syrian conflict the the jihadi forces were the minority among anti-government forces but have now become the majority.
“What we have is not a civil war. What we have is a war, but it’s a new kind of war.”
When questioned about the civilian death toll Assad stated the majority of the reported civilian deaths are the fault of the “terrorists” or are “terrorist” forces killed by the Syrian army. He claimed that many villages and towns are abandoned as soon as rebel forces appear and this accounts for the large number of refugees produced by the conflict.
While discussing the recent alleged chemical attack on a suburb of Damascus on August 21st by Syrian government forces, Assad unequivocally stated the Syrian army did not use chemical weapons, because it would harm the its troops and the civilian residents of Damascus. When pressed to elaborate on why he would not use chemical weapons Assad stated: you can not use sarin right next to your trips, you would not employ WMD’s when advancing, and chemical weapons can only be used by specialized units.
Assad called sarin a “kitchen gas” that can be made by anyone and suggested it could have been produced by the opposition. When pressed further about the sarin being too pure and in too large of a quantity to have been homemade Assad stated it is possible that it was provided by a foreign country.
“There is mutual respect between Syria and Russia…only the American administration their allies in Europe and some of the puppets in the Arab World repeat these words; whether the President should leave, what the Syrian people should do, what kind of government. Only this bloc interferes in the matter of sovereign country.”
Assad said evidence of rebels using chemical weapons has been passed on to the Russians and questioned the validity of intelligence gathered that points to government forces employing chemical weapons. The U.S. intelligence community strongly believes the Syrian government is behind recent chemical weapons attacks. The full UN report on the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ghouta can be viewed here.
Assad denied he is stalling for time by agreeing to proposal of the Syrian government returning all of its chemical weapons and claimed he has nothing to gain by non-compliance.
The Assad regime has been utilizing social media from Youtube to Instagram to present it’s version of events. Images of first lady Asma al-Assad posing with school children and distributing food were widely criticized as propaganda.
-Polive
Polive Review 