Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Lattakia, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs. Asma al-Assad on Saturday arrived in Lattakia city where they visited the injured and the affected families due to the earthquake and inspected the ongoing rescue operations, and the removal of rubble in Lattakia province.
President al-Assad and Mrs. Asma got assured about the injured at Tishreen University Hospital, and they got assured about the health of Mrs. Doha Nour al-Allah and her son Ibrahim Zakarya who were pulled out from under the rubble in Jableh yesterday after 5 days of the earthquake.
President al-Assad and Mrs. Asma visited the earthquake affected families who are staying in al-Bassel education training center in Lattakia, reassured their condition, and inspected the ongoing rescue operations and rubble removal.
In a response to a question about whether the earthquake made a possible change in the West’s position and in the international community’s dealings with Syria, President al-Assad said “The West’s position regarding humanitarian situations, regardless of the earthquake and any catastrophic situation, has not changed and remains the same.”
“When I talk about the West we don’t mean the west in the popular sense, but in the political sense in the first step and the ethical sense which the western politicians are carrying,” President al-Assad went on to say.
He also answered another question about Arab sympathy and help towards the Syrians in their ordeal, and said: “Not only sympathy but the feeling of belonging of the Arab peoples has not changed or been altered.”
In response to a question from the SANA reporter about what is required in the next phase to move from an emergency response to a permanent response to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, President al-Assad said: “We always look for a point of light in severe moments, and this rule is general in our working method, especially after the war”.
“We have a large number of problems, some of which have accumulated over decades, and some of which are related to the war, while some have to do with the earthquake,” President al-Assad added.
President al-Assad said in response to a question by al-Watan newspaper reporter about the contribution of the local community, that it has shown unprecedented solidarity.
“I always say that we should receive messages from the local community and not give messages, and we are part of this local community and we belong to it,” the President concluded.
They also met the Syrian and Russian rescue teams in the Ghazalat neighborhood in Jableh city and inspected the ongoing rescue operations and rubble removal there.
President al-Assad said, in a statement to reporters from the site: the government plans to study the entire situation; the first priority was to save the neighborhoods, the second one is to study the condition of the cracked buildings and others, but the priority during the past days was for the neighborhoods, asserting that the concerned institutions will begin to study all these details.
Tishreen University Hospital
Al-Bassel education training center in Lattakia
Ghazalat neighborhood in Jableh city
Fedaa/Shaza/Hala
