SYRIAN Presidential Political and Media Advisor Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban has said that the liberation of Eastern Ghouta has shown that the Syrian state triumphs in any battle it leads. In an interview with the Syrian TV channel on Wednesday evening, Shaaban added that the Syrian state has its strategies regarding the war that has been waged against it, asserting Syria’s keenness on the liberation of all the Syrian territories.
‘What happened before liberating Ghouta is very similar to that before liberating Aleppo as the Western media began to fabricate news and show locals of Ghouta as suffering hunger, destruction and siege,’ the Presidential Advisor elaborated, asserting that those media don’t care for the locals of Ghouta but for their tools, the gangs and terrorist organisations which lead the war against Syria.
She pointed out that there is a very serious social problem in Ghouta where many women had suffered humiliation under the control of terrorists, and there are dozens of children without identity. She revealed that on the directive of President Bashar al-Assad, a committee comprising 11 ministers was formed to plan for the problem of those children and to enroll them in schools. ‘Teams of specialists are working day and night to help citizens erase those bad moments from their minds,’ she said.
Dr. Shaaban stressed that President al-Assad is interested in freeing all the Syrian abductees as the life of every Syrian person is very important for him. In response to a question about the situation in the southern areas of Damascus, she emphasised that the Syrian Army will liberate every inch of Syria’s territory from terrorism.
On the request of the terrorists to move to Idlib, Shaaban said: ‘Idlib is a dear part of the Syrian territory like any other part, we were surprised at the beginning of the reconciliations at this request but our only explanation is that Idlib is close to the authority of Erdogan, godfather of the war against Syria and where the terrorists feel protected. ‘But Idlib, like Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and all the Syrian cities, will return to the control of the Syrian State.’
She clarified that the Syrian government’s stance has been clear from the beginning regarding encouraging reconciliations to avoid fighting that could cause destruction and bloodshed. The Political Advisor concluded by saying that some parties may reconsider their accounts with regard to Syria since they want to establish a relationship with the winner and Syria has won the war.
Syria’s Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant General Mahmoud al-Shawwa said on Wednesday that the presence of any foreign military forces on Syrian territory without the approval of the Syrian government is a clear aggression and occupation, and it will be dealt with accordingly.
In Syria’s speech at the 7th Moscow International Security Conference, which kicked off on Wednesday, al-Shawwa said that the eradication of terrorism in Syria dealt a blow to Western schemes in the region. He said that as the Syrian Arab Army and its allies are uprooting terrorism, Syria is continuing along the course of openness, intra-Syrian dialogue, national reconciliation, and reconstruction, adding that the victories achieved on the ground caused several countries to backtrack and change their positions and convictions.
Al-Shawwa said that Syrian citizens remained resilient in defending their homeland, paving the way towards victory against terrorism via two military and political tactics that run in parallel, which are fighting terrorism until the last terrorist in Syria is eliminated, and remaining open to all political solutions that respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and that reject subservience to foreign sides.
The Deputy Minister said that the Syrian government responded positively to the Astana meetings, which had relative positive effects that would have been better if the Turkish guarantor was committed to the process, adding that the government also attended all rounds of the Geneva talks which the opposition groups kept undermining upon the instructions of their regional and international masters.
He noted that as the Syrian National Dialogue Congress kicked off in Sochi, Syria’s enemies delved deeper into attempts to tamper with Syrian geography, and they sought to undermine the Congress starting with a series of lies to undermine the Syrian Arab Army’s successive victories and to cover up the fact that Western states were arming terrorist groups.
Al-Shawwa said that 2017 was the year of major field victories against terrorism in Syria, since Daesh (ISIS) has been defeated by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies, with the Russian Aerospace Forces playing a vital role in this.
The Deputy Minister said that currently the presence of Daesh in Syria is limited to a few isolated and fully-encircled pockets that make up around 4% of Syria, or around 7,000 square kilometres spread in several areas in the east of the country, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, parts of al-Yarmouk Camp and al-Hajar al-Aswad near Damascus, and on the borders with Jordan and Palestine.
He said that when Syria and its allies began to reach the final stages of the war on terror, the states that control the terrorists went crazy and started to employ their own forces, whether the American forces that came to replace terrorist groups in northern Syria or the invading Turkish forces.
This was accompanied by American and Israeli attacks on Syria in clear violation of international law, all to support terrorists and cover up their defeats, and this explains the recent US attempts to make up different excuses to justify its presence in Syria and maintain its illegal bases and forces to seize control over oil fields and divide Syria via the so-called federalism project.
Al-Shawwa noted that Washington tried to scavenge its terrorist pawns by forming a new force of ‘armed opposition’ that it leads and trains directly from the remnants of Daesh. The Deputy Minister said the region is still subject to a dangerous colonialist campaign that employs the tactics of escalating conflicts, supporting terrorism, and starting wars to achieve the goals of certain states.
He pointed out that Syria had often warned that terrorism knows no boundaries or borders, and it poses a threat to everyone around the world, therefore the issue of counter-terrorism must be a global priority, calling on active regional and international forces to play a positive role in this regard.
‘How could stability be achieved and reinforced in our region without curbing the hostile practices of the Turkish regime, the Israeli entity, and its American ally?’ he wondered, stressing that Syria views the presence of any foreign military forces on Syrian territory without the approval of the Syrian government as clear aggression and occupation, and it will be dealt with accordingly Al-Shawwa said that everyone must work earnestly and in unison to deal with the effects and repercussions of terrorism and take out its sources and funding, reiterating Syria’s calls for holding all the regional and international sides who support terrorism responsible for their actions.
