Damascus, SANA-Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said that the victories achieved by the Syrian Arab Army and the Lebanese resistance in al-Qalamoun constitute a big loss for Israel, adding “victory is the only and last choice for us.”
In an interview given to Al-Manar TV on Friday, al-Zoubi said that the battle in al-Qalamoun serves Lebanon’s people and state and limits the terrorists’ ability to sneak into Lebanon, thereby protecting the Lebanese people and the areas north, south, and east of al-Qalamoun.
He noted that the Syrian Army and the Lebanese resistance are well aware that the terrorists who fight in al-Qalamoun are trained and have advanced weapons, and their plans are probably made by Turkish, Israeli, Saudi or Qatari military leaderships.
He added that the terrorist organizations in al-Qalamoun are too cowardly to stand face to face with the Syrian Army and the Lebanese resistance, therefore, they hide in the caves and behind the rocks and they seize the opportunity to carry out terrorist operations to kill the civilians, attack and kidnap them.
The Minister indicated that thousands of terrorists entered Jisr al-Shughour city, backed by a covering fire from Turkey and they don’t care at all which buildings will be destroyed or who will be killed inside them, yet this issue is important for the Syrian state and for the armed forces in the first place and therefore the Syrian forces got out of the city, yet, for not making the battle inside the administrative borders of this city in particular.
He stressed that the latest media war hasn’t affected the Syrian people despite of its fierceness and the military attack accompanying it in different areas, saying “We recognize the nature of the battle and its media and psychological dimensions and we deal with it as we deal with the field military affairs.”
We are fighting to defend the territorial integrity of the region and the choice of resistance and steadfastness while they are working on partitioning the region and undermining the resistance as the battle is between two choices, one of them is moral while the other is immoral, and the moral choice will win, al-Zoubi said.
He added “The Syrian state is a single state and the shape of the internal administration or the regime , the nature of the constitution, the political life and practicing the political work, all of these issues can be discussed, yet not at the expense of the sovereignty, the territorial integrity and the national unity.”
He pointed out that the political solution to the crisis is not complicated, difficult or impossible, yet it needs a political will, wondering whether there is enough political will at the moderate political opposition to reach the political solution or not.
He expressed the Syrian Government’s readiness to discuss a political solution to the crisis whether in Damascus or in Moscow, adding” But naturally we have a structural problem with those who want to divide Syria.”
The Minister also said that in the near and far future, history will record that Saudi Arabia used forbidden weapons and excessive violence and carried out genocide against innocent civilians in Yemen, asserting that Saudi Arabia has lost in Yemen because it failed to achieve its goals there and will never be able to achieve them, adding that any talk of the Saudis achieving victories there is no more than a farce.
Commenting on the 67th anniversary of Nakba Day, al-Zoubi stressed that “Palestine is not a dream, but it is a goal and a compass”, adding that the right to return is a legitimate right and that “Israel is the enemy and they want that Day to expand not only geographically, but also in the national and moral identity of the Arabs and in their conscience and memory.”
R. al-Jazaeri/Mazen