Al-Moallem: Al-Assad Won’t Resign, No for Foreign Dictates

Local Editor

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that Syria announced its determination to take part in the international conference in Geneva.

He further asserted that the government is serious in its decision as it considers the conference a real opportunity that should not be missed.
Al-Moallem added that Syria has many doubts about the intentions of the terrorism-backing countries who ''started to put obstacles in the way of convening the conference through their decision to arm the opposition. ''

He said that going to the conference also aims to build a real partnership and a broad national unity government that represents all spectrums of the Syrian people.
Al-Moallem further affirmed that Syria will not accept any solutions or even ideas dictates from the outside.
"I affirm that we will not accept any solution or ideas imposed from the outside... dialogue will be among the Syrians themselves, between the opposition aboard and the national opposition inside... we will build - through partnership with them - the future of Syria," al-Moallem said, stressing that nothing will be done unless the Syrian people agree to it.

In parallel, al-Moallem affirmed: "President Bashar al-Assad will not resign. If your condition (for talks at Geneva) is President al-Assad's resignation, don't bother coming."
He noted that "after the victories of the Syrian Army in al-Qseir, it seems that those conspiring against Syria lost their equilibrium, and that the reactions of the conspirators gave a feeling of the importance of that battle, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius coming out to call for restoring balance, and that ended up with the US president calling for arming the opposition.

On the issue of chemical weapons, al-Moallem said "we never announced that we had chemical weapons."
AL-Moallem also lashed out against a decision by the so-called "Friends of Syria" group of Arab and Western governments that back the opposition to step up their assistance to the armed groups.
"Two days ago a conference was held in Doha. They emerged with a clear decision to arm the opposition... This will only prolong the crisis," al-Moallem said.

"Who decides when the balance needs to be restored?" asked the minister.
He also wondered: "They say the restoration of balance is aimed at forcing the Syrian government to attend the Geneva talks. We said we are ready to attend -- but what about the other side?"

Moreover, al-Moallem warned that any arms provided to the opposition would end up in the hands of al-Nusra Front.
"Why don't they see how they are contributing to terrorism?" he asked, and added: "I only want to say that what was decided in Doha is dangerous because it aims at prolonging the violence, and it encourages terrorism."
"Arming the opposition will be an obstacle to the Geneva conference and will kill more of our people."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team