{"id":2978,"date":"2015-09-28T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2015-10-19T11:44:31","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T15:44:31","slug":"al-assad-blames-west-in-interview-with-russian-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/09\/28\/al-assad-blames-west-in-interview-with-russian-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Assad Blames West in Interview with Russian Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tela Wittig<\/a><\/strong>
\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In an intimate interview with Russian media, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spoke about his opinions concerning the refugee crisis that is currently plaguing Europe, and his willingness to work with other states towards ending the terrorism that continues to plague his country.<\/p>\n

Asked about the Syrian government’s response to terrorism and the “exodus of Syrians” fleeing to Europe, Assad declared\u00a0the Syrian government’s desire to collaborate with any other state wanting to join in the fight against terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Nusra, the Syrian wing of Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

Assad’s recent openness to cooperate with other nations shows that, as\u00a0Syria enters\u00a0its fifth year of civil war,\u00a0the current methods of combat have been ineffective.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s response to the refugee crisis, on the other hand, was less\u00a0embracing. In no uncertain terms, he accused Europe of contributing to the influx of refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe West now is crying for the refugees with one eye and aiming at them with a machine gun with the second one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Assad believes that Western countries\u00a0are using the war on terrorism to work against the Syrian government by arming insurgents.\u00a0Terrorism, in the eyes of the Syrian government, is a term used to refer to all armed groups who are working to remove Assad from power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern countries, which provide cover for terrorism like France, the United States, or others, cannot fight terrorism. You cannot be with and against terrorism at the same time,\u201d Assad\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a strategy for handling terrorism\u00a0in\u00a0the Middle East. Putin suggested that the U.S. handle threats in Iraq, while Russia handles Syrian terrorists, as the Syrian government has much stronger relations with the Russian government. Over the past month, Russian military power\u00a0in Syria\u00a0has built up to now include\u00a0air to air missiles, which has caused\u00a0observers to warn against the danger of a Russian military base in the Middle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syria continues to fill the headlines this week amidst an advancement in political discussion surrounding Syria’s conflict. In an intimate interview with Russian media, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spoke out about his opinions concerning the refugee crisis that is currently plaguing Europe, and his willingness to work with other states towards ending the terrorism that continues to plague his country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,388],"tags":[401,480,523],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news","category-mid-east","tag-russia","tag-syria","tag-bashar-al-assad"],"yoast_head":"\nAssad Blames West in Interview with Russian Media - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/09\/28\/al-assad-blames-west-in-interview-with-russian-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assad Blames West in Interview with Russian Media - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Syria continues to fill the headlines this week amidst an advancement in political discussion surrounding Syria's conflict. 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