Assad warns of regional instability if regime falls

SOURCE: TANJUG
BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that the fall of his regime would produce a "domino effect" that would destabilize the region "for many years".

Bashar al-Assad (Beta/AP)

 

Bashar al-Assad (Beta/AP)
The Syrian leader, who believes that the two-year conflict in the country is caused by enemies in the region, has criticized Turkish “immature and frivolous” leaders and Arabic neighbors whom he accused of arming and protecting rebels.

“The whole world knows that if Syria is partitioned, or if terrorist forces take control of the country, there will be direct contagion of the surrounding countries," Assad said in an interview with two Turkish media outlets.

"Then there would be a domino effect on countries perhaps far from the Middle East, to the west, east, north and south. This would mean instability for many years, even decades," he added.

His remarks were an acid reiteration of his long-standing argument that Syria and the region will face a bleak future if he falls. His foes argue that his determination to keep power at all costs has already plunged his country into disaster, Reuters has reported.

Neighboring Lebanon and Jordan are both struggling to cope with the flood of refugees, while the sectarian element of the conflict - with mainly Sunni Muslim and Islamist fighters battling a president from Syria's Alawite minority - has also raised tensions in neighbors such as Lebanon and Iraq.

While accusing opponents of using "sectarian slogans", Assad said the essence of the battle was between "forces and states seeking to take their people back into historic times, and states wanting to take their peoples into a prosperous future".

Assad said Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was recruiting fighters with Qatari money to wage war in Syria, but warned his former friend that the bloodshed could not easily be contained.

"The fire in Syria will burn Turkey. Unfortunately he does not see this reality," Assad said.

Erdogan, he said, "has not uttered a single truthful word since the crisis in Syria began".

Assad also condemned the Arab League, which has suspended Syria's membership and last month invited opposition leaders Moaz Alkhatib and Ghassan Hitto to attend a summit meeting in his place.

"The Arab League itself lacks legitimacy. It is an organization which represents Arab states and not Arab people. It has lacked legitimacy for a long time because these Arab states themselves .... do not reflect the will of the Arab people," he said.

Assad also dismissed Western countries which condemned his crackdown on the protest as hypocrites.

"France and Britain committed massacres in Libya with the support and cover of the U.S. The Turkish government is knee-deep in Syrian blood. Are these states really concerned about Syrian blood," the Syrian president stressed.