Damascus, SANA – Heading a delegation of American activists, Marcus Southworth of the Second Qumran Foundation affirmed that the only way to break through the US political agenda towards Syria is to work to change the public opinion in the United States and convey the true picture of what is happening in Syria.
The delegation, which includes activists in the medical, legal, social and political fields from the US and Mexico, started a five-day visit to Syria on Monday, where it has visited a number of hospitals in Damascus city.
During a meeting with Health Minister Nizar Yazigi, Southworth said he regrets that the public opinion in his country does not know the truth about what is going on in Syria, adding that he has taken upon himself to be an advocate of its people, and that he has launched a website for that purpose.
He added that their visit aims at inspecting firsthand the situation in Syria and working on lifting the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed on the country, saying that these measures only harm people and have no role in changing political agendas.
A number of the delegation members, for their part, highlighted the need to work on changing the public opinion by means of personal relations, media, education and exchange of medical missions so that the Syrians and Americans be introduced to the culture of each other’s country, hailing the medical “miracles” achieved by the medical teams in Syria under the difficult circumstances in the country.
In turn, Yazigi reviewed the needs of the health sector in Syria, citing some medical equipment such as CT scans, dialysis devices and ambulances as well as special medicines and vaccines due to the difficulty of importing them as a result of the economic measures imposed on Syria.
M.al-Frieh/H. Said