Al-Assad: Syria in a War Not Battle
Local Editor
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday attended a ceremony organized by the Martyrs' Sons and Daughters Schools Establishment to honor the children of martyrs who followed in their fathers' footsteps and joined military academies.
President al-Assad addressed the children of martyrs and the schools' staff members, saying that he feels great joy when he meets the sons and daughters of martyrs, and that he wanted to join them on this occasion, which takes place on Martyrs Day.
"Martyrdom is the most noble value to be championed by human beings anywhere in the world when they are defending their homeland, and the nobility of martyrdom isn't restricted to the martyrs themselves; rather it extends to all those who continue to champion this value, and none can champion it better than the families of the martyrs."
In parallel, he stated: "When a fighter believes in his cause and his victory, he will give us morale when he achieved victory in any battle, even if it's a small battle, and when we believe in this fighter, we give him morale as a society, as a people, and as an incubator when he loses a battle."
Al-Assad further noted that Syria is currently waging a war, not just a battle, and wars are a series of many battles, and when one is talking about a war as vicious as the one taking place in Syria, then this involves thousands of battles, and it's natural for this type of battles with the numbers and conditions involved in them to have them shift between attack and defense, wins and losses, and ups and downs, but the important thing is for faith in the inevitability of victory to remain unchanging.
He stressed that when there are setbacks, the society must do its duty and strengthen the army's morale rather than always expect the army to raise the society's morale, as this process should be reciprocal, not like what some do when they try to spread frustration and despair over one loss or another or because they are influenced by external propaganda.
President al-Assad noted that the external propaganda was recently intensified after its failure 2 years ago, pointing out that the previous propaganda campaign failed despite it being accompanied by more difficult circumstances and the fact that many Syrians didn't see matters clearly back then.
"But the sponsors, promoters, politicians, and journalists who were involved in that campaign crawled back to their holes, and now they re-emerged because they sensed that there's fertile soil in some people in this country," he added.
"We shouldn't live in a state of contradiction. In wars, there are wins and losses, and there are people who are now killing and crushing many terrorists on the confrontation lines, and these people wouldn't have done that if they had been afraid. They are fighting and advancing, and some of them are fighting and emerging victorious, and others are fighting and retreating when circumstances necessitate that," the Syrian President said.
He called for being aware of frustration and those who spread it, because psychological defeat means final defeat, adding "but I'm not worried over this, because as the first propaganda campaign failed at the beginning of the crisis, this campaign will fail. There is no concern, but this doesn't prevent us from warning people that the beginning of frustration leads to defeat."
He affirmed that heroic battles didn't start with the battle for Aleppo Prison, nor will they end with the siege on Jisr al-Shughour Hospital, asserting that the army will soon reach the brave soldiers who are currently besieged in the hospital in Jisr al-Shughour.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
