Assad threatens to 'blind' Israel, claims Syria can trust Hezbollah
Assad says he has no doubts about Hezbollah's loyalty, claims hubbub regarding chemical weapons connected to Western desire to protect Israel which he says Syria can 'blind in an instant' even without chemical arms
In addition, Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as saying that the relations between his government and the terrorist Shiite group Hezbollah have "consolidated" the Syrian regime's position regarding “any aggression against Syria.”
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“We are confident that the battle we are conducting with our allies is the battle of all of the resistance front… I am confident that the chief of loyalty (Hezbollah Sec.-Gen. Hassan Nasrallah) can contain the repercussions of any aggression against Syria,” Assad was quoted as saying by in Thursday's edition of the Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar, Now Lebanon reported.
Assad with Russia's Deputy FM Sergei Ryabkov (Photo: Reuters)
Assad reportedly expressed his optimism regarding the developments concerning his unconventional arms, specifically in regards to the Kerry-Lavrov agreement to secure the regime's chemical weapon stockpiles.
“We have 1000 tons of chemical weapons that were initially a burden for us. Getting rid of them would have been costly and would have taken years, in addition to the environmental dilemma they pose and other problems that would need to be resolved. Let them then come and take them."
However, the embattled Syrian president still remained skeptical regarding the world's true motivation for curbing his chemical stockpiles. “The chemical weapons are not and were not their aim. They wanted to change the balance of power and protect Israel,” he reportedly said.
On a fiery note, Assad warned that Syria owned arms more dangerous than the now-infamous chemical ones.
“Chemical weapons were manufactured in the eighties as deterrence in the face of Israeli nuclear weapons. Today, it is not a deterrence force anymore. We have weapons that are more important and more sophisticated to challenge Israel, which we can blind in an instant.”
The Syrian president also slammed US President Barack Obama, claiming the Obama is a “a hesitant and unstable person… too weak to launch an aggression against Syria.”
No problem
Nonetheless, speaking to Venezuela's Telesur, the Syrian leader insisted that his regime was complying with a deal under which Damascus will turn over its chemical weapons for destruction.
"Syria is generally committed to all the agreements that it signs," he said in an interview published in full by the Syrian state news agency SANA on Thursday.
He said Damascus had begun to send the required details of its chemical arsenal to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which is overseeing the deal, and that OPCW inspectors were expected to visit Syria.
"Experts (from the OPCW) will come to Syria in the coming period to look into the status of these weapons," he said. "As the Syrian government, there are no serious obstacles," he added.
"But there is always the possibility that the terrorists will obstruct the work of the experts by preventing them from accessing certain places," Assad added. The Syrian regime calls all those fighting against it "terrorists".
Syria agreed to turn over its chemical arsenal under a deal thrashed out following an August 21 sarin attack in the suburbs of Damascus, which killed hundreds of people.
The attack, which occurred as UN chemical weapons experts were in Syria investigating previous alleged chemical attacks, was blamed on the Syrian regime by Washington and other international backers of the Syrian opposition.
Assad's government denies involvement, but agreed to turn over its chemical arsenal in the face of threatened US military action in response to the August 21 attack.
AFP contributed to this report
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