AFP EXCLUSIVE: Assad vows to retake whole country, warns could 'take long time'

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: AFP

Damascus (AFP) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to retake the entire country but warned it could take a "long time," in an exclusive interview with AFP that comes as international pressure grows for a ceasefire.

Speaking at his office in Damascus on Thursday, Assad said he supported peace talks, but that negotiations do "not mean that we stop fighting terrorism".

He said a major Russian-backed government offensive under way in the northern province of Aleppo was aimed mainly at severing the opposition's supply route from Turkey.

Assad said he saw a risk that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, key backers of the opposition, would intervene militarily in Syria.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/afp-exclusive-assad-vows-retake-whole-country-warns-150319669.html

[Renew Deal]

1. Then what's the point of the cessation of hostilities?

[MosheFeingold]

4. To reload

In seriousness, Assad is a bad, bad guy. Linked with the fringe in Iran.

He is also less bad than ISIS and relatively (relatively) contained. Akin to Col. Qaddafi, who was also a creepy, dangerous, guy but relatively contained.

ISIS, in contrast is metastasizing.

I hate to say this, but secular dictatorships are about the best we can hope for in the ME because, candidly, the population is not ready for the responsibilities of a democratic republic. Call me elitist and a bigot and an imperialist, but all cultures are not equal.

In particular, the Islamist culture/religion sucks and needs a warden, not a leader.

Is it for us (or Russia who is taking the lead here) to impose our will on them? Maybe so, when they are complete asshats and unable to govern themselves such that their problems spill over into the rest of the world.

[Feeling the Bern]

2. Half-ass Assad's dipshit kid Quarter-ass Assad is worse than his dipshit daddy

[Javaman]

3. retaking a destroyed country of his own making.

I foresee his quick ouster after he "retakes" the country, because it will be massively in debt trying to rebuild from his screw up.

[uhnope]

7. & meanwhile Assad & Putin continue to force war refugees into Europe in destabilization plan

twofer

[moondust]

10. And the West may not want to help rebuild

a country with the brutal Assad still there ready to further brutalize the population and the brutal Putin standing behind him ready to help.

[nyabingi]

5. I don't see the point in negotiations or

any ceasefires until the anti-Assad coalition (which includes the US, Israel, Turkey, the Gulf autocracies, NATO, al-Qa'ida, ISIS, al-Nusra Front, etc.) gives up its regime change desires. Why should the Syrian government, Iran and Russia stop bombing the head-choppers when they have them on the run? It doesn't make sense.

I am happy with the way things are going in Syria right not because I'm a fan of Assad, or Putin, or Iran, or Hezbollah or any of the groups fighting against ISIS in Syria. But because for the first time since the neoconservative gang that Bush brought with him into power, another country has finally stepped up to the United States' regime change mania and said "enough".

The Cheney/Rumsfeld (and now Obama/Clinton) foreign policy was predicated on the fact that we (the US) figured no one would step in to stop us from knocking off one country after another, but that has now been halted in its tracks in Syria. It was bound to happen eventually and the US is still trying to come to grips with the fact that our days of unchallenged plunder and pillage might be over.

[GreatGazoo]

6. Just when Homs and Aleppo are retaken and ISIS is on the chopping block, the West wants a ceasefire.

The US said it would welcome the Saudis sending ground troops to invade Syria.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-libya-usa-idUSKCN0VD2TB

Kind of makes one wonder how hard we were fighting ISIS before the Russians stole our war. Also how can we back the Saudis while allegedly fighting ISIS their Sunni extremist mercenaries ?

[MowCowWhoHow III]

8. Davutoğlu signals Turkish action after fall of Aleppo corridor

Davutoğlu signals Turkish action after fall of Aleppo corridor

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has implied that Turkey will take action after the capture of the town of Azez in Syria, a strategic corridor between Aleppo and Turkey for rebel groups, by Syrian regime troops backed by Russian airstrikes.

Speaking to reporters en route to Turkey from the Netherlands, Davutoğlu said that he had told German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the need to stop Russia in Syria in order to prevent further influxes of refugees to Turkey and Europe from the region, the Hürriyet daily reported on Friday. When asked whether Turkey will take action to reopen the corridor to Aleppo, Davutoğlu said, “Wait for the next few days and you will have the answer,” daily Hürriyet reported on Friday.

An offensive by Syrian forces, Hezbollah and Shiite militias directed by Iran and backed by Russian bombing raids has reversed opposition gains on the ground and encircled rebels inside Aleppo. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that the number of refugees fleeing to Turkish border might reach 600,000 if airs strikes continue.

Davutoğlu also criticized the US for not listing the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organization. He argued that the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD, supplies arms to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). “When US Vice President Joe Biden came [to Turkey in late January], we showed him everything on a map for five hours. We shared everything about which routes are used by the YPG to carry weapons to Turkey. We expect [the US to show] sensitivity [about the issue]. We cannot see the YPG as legitimate just because it is fighting against the [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL,” Hürriyet quoted Davutoğlu as saying.

http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_davutoglu-signals-turkish-action-after-fall-of-aleppo-corridor_412162.html

[MowCowWhoHow III]

9. 21 countries in Thunder of the North drill in Saudi Arabia

21 countries in Thunder of the North drill in Saudi Arabia

Manama: A major military drill prepared by Saudi Arabia is a clear message that any hostile action or intention in the region will be tackled decisively, experts have said.

Saudi media said that the war manoeuvres, code namedcode named Northern Thunder, would be held in the northern region of the kingdom and that several countries would join.

Brigadier Ahmad Asiri, the spokesperson for the Arab Coalition fighting to restore the rule of the internationally recognised government in Yemen, said that 21 countries would be participating in the Northern Thunder drill.

“There will be 21 Arab and Muslim countries taking part in huge drills,” Assiri told London-based newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat. “It will serve to boost fighting capabilities, exchange information, benefit from experiences and expertise and enhance coordination between the participating countries. There will be joint military command centres,” he said.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/21-countries-in-thunder-of-the-north-drill-in-saudi-arabia-1.1670564

[Yupster]

11. We better be making plans to defend the Syrian Kurds

When he says the whole country, he means the Kurdish part too.