Syrian President Bashar Assad called out Western media
for vilifying him while at the same time whitewashing terrorists as
"freedom fighters" to paint a "black-and-white" picture of the war
in Syria, as he pledged to not leave office until his term
expires.
Assad spoke on Syria’s and his personal future as the country’s
leader at the meeting with US media that took place in Damascus on
Monday evening.
Reflecting on being labeled a "war criminal" by the mainstream
media, which attribute the death of thousands of civilians to the
Syrian government’s anti-terrorist campaign, he said that the
support he still enjoys with the Syrian people after over five
years into the conflict does not fit into this narrative.
"Let’s suppose that these allegations are correct and this is a
president who is killing his own people and committed crimes, and
the ‘free world’ and the West is helping the Syrian people against
the bad guy," Assad said, as cited by the New Yorker, adding that
if this was the case, he would have lost all public support a long
time ago.
"How can I be president if I am killing my people and my people
are against me? This is disconnected from reality," Assad added. He
pointed to a lack of media attention toward the terrorists’
atrocities in Syria, with "no one talking about war crimes"
committed by militants fighting against the Syrian Army.
"The headline is ‘The bad president, the bad guy, is killing the
good guys. They [the terrorists] are the freedom fighters," the
Syrian leader said, lamenting what he said was distorted,
"black-and-white" media coverage.
Assad said he believes he should serve his seven-year
presidential term, which began in 2014 after he claimed a landslide
victory securing almost 90 percent of the vote in presidential
elections, in full, not to betray the trust of the people who cast
ballots for him.
"If you’re the captain of the ship, when you have a storm, you
don’t jump in the water. You lead it to shore," Assad said.
Assad argued that many of his political opponents who previously
opposed the ruling Ba’ath Party have taken his side under the
circumstances of wartime as they fear Syria’s statehood might be
dismantled and jihadists will take over the country in case his
government collapses.
"They [the opposition] learned the value of the state," the
Syrian leader said, as cited by the New York Times, adding that the
possibility of descending into chaos "brought them towards us" and
"not because they changed their mind politically."
While the mainstream Western media was quick to blame Assad for
war crimes for what they claimed was indiscriminate bombing
campaign in eastern Aleppo, the Syrian president responded by
citing international law violations committed by the West such as
the Iraq invasion and chaos in Libya, which is still reeling from
its civil war and is currently on the brink of economic
collapse.
"We’re not the ones who attacked Iraq without a mandate from the
United Nations – it was the United States and Britain and her
allies. It wasn’t us who attacked Libya and destroyed the
government," Assad told the New Yorker, adding that Western powers
have no right to intervene into the internal affairs of countries
if they don’t like the political course their government
follows.
"Even if you have the worst government in Libya, it’s not your
mission, the United States or any other government, to change the
government of foreign countries," he stressed, adding that that a
similar threat is hanging over Syria, as he believes the US in
Syria is aimed not on fighting terrorism but rather on ousting the
Syrian government.
"In reality, everything the United States has been doing in
Syria, at least since what they call the international alliance
against ISIS [Islamic State], is to expand ISIS. The real reason is
about toppling the government," Assad said.
Assad believes that one of the crucial moments for Syria
returning back to normal life will be underpinning the secular
principles of the state, while simultaneously uprooting ideas of
radical Islam that rejects any other worldview.
"Secular means freedom of religion," Assad said. "Islamization
means ‘I don’t believe in anyone who doesn’t look like me, behaves
like me, thinks like me.’"
Assad also explained that Syrian government has not cut all ties
with the West, and carries on a dialogue with some Western
countries, including with the US, "through different channels."
However, he stressed that Syria has no intention to turn into "a
puppet country," The New York Times quotes.