The first batch of S-300 air defense complexes has arrived in Syria, President Bashar Assad said in an interview to Lebanon Al-Manar. Assad also said that Syrian army is battling up to 100,000 foreign mercenaries.
Assad revealed that the rest of the S-300 complexes previewed by
a Russian-Syrian arms contract will be coming soon, reports RT
Arabic (Rusiya Al Yaum), which has confirmed details of the
exclusive interview to be broadcast on the Lebanese TV channel at
9pm local time (18:00 GMT) Thursday.
The president promised that the Syrian army will “immediately
react” of a new Israeli aggression of Syrian soil, recalling
recent bombings of military objects inside Syrian territory by
the Israeli Air Force.
He noted that “The Syrian government will not interfere if
some kind of Syrian group starts a war to liberate the Golan
Heights,” occupied by Israel since the 1967 War.
During the interview, Assad confirmed the presence of Hezbollah
fighters in Syria on the Lebanese border, but stressed, that
“it is the Syrian army, not Hezbollah, battling the groups of
armed rebels and will continue to do so until total elimination
of the terrorists.”
Assad put blame for financing terrorists on Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and Turkey, which helped up to 100,000 militants to infiltrate
into Syria.
He assured that Damascus will participate in the upcoming
conference on Syria in Geneva (Geneva-2), but stressed that there
are no expectations of “important decisions” being made
there.
On Wednesday Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told the
Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen that in Geneva the Syrian
government expects to talk to those members of the opposition
which “do not have blood on their hands.”
“We cannot make a peaceful settlement with those who sow
terror and violence,” said Muallem, who is expected to head
the Syrian delegation in Geneva.
“We’re going [to the Geneva conference] with good intentions
and hope to end the conflict. We go to Geneva without
preconditions,” Muallem stated.
This contradicts the position of the disintegrated Syrian
opposition, which has just failed to reach unity at a summit in
Istanbul. In a released statement divided opposition coalition
has put forward a condition that, in any case, negotiations with
the President Bashar Assad regime must lead to his resignation.
Also, the statement says, Syrian opposition will not participate
in peace talks “while massacres underway”, AP reports.
Muallem also shared that Moscow supplies Damascus only with
weapons of defense and pointed out that “those who are afraid
of such weapons are actually preparing aggression [against Syria]
themselves”.
The news about S-300 systems in Syria comes a mere two days after
the EU’s decision to lift an arms embargo on Syria, allowing
European countries to ‘fully support’ the rebels fighting against
the Assad regime.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lashed at the EU’s move
as “an unlawful”.
“This is an unlawful decision, in principle, to discuss
seriously on official level the issue of supplying or not
supplying arms to non-state actors is contrary to all norms of
international law,” Lavrov said earlier.
Germany has become the first among leading European states who
decided to stay away from arms supply to the Syrian opposition.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially stated on Wednesday
that Germany will ”under no circumstances” send weapons
to rebels in Syria.
Also on Wednesday a group of independent UN experts stated that
the majority of the Syrian rebel militants do not fight for
democracy.
“It was said the rebels were angels, but there is only a
minority of fighters with a democratic history who believe in the
Syrian mosaic and want a state for all,” Paulo Pinheiro, who
took part in UN investigation, told reporters.
“The majority of rebels are very far from having democratic
thoughts and have other aspirations,” Pinheiro concluded.
This article originally appeared on: RT