Parliament Speaker to Iranian Media Delegation: Syrian People to Win Battle against Terrorism

DAMASCUS, (ST)_ Speaker of the People’s Assembly Jihad al-Lahham stressed that the crisis in Syria has provoked an international struggle to end the uni-polar system which has dominated the world since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

Meeting an Iranian media delegation on Thursday, al-Lahham said the crisis in Syria has been prolonged due to foreign interference by the West and by some regional regimes which have been providing financial, logistic and intelligence support to terrorist groups’ operations in Syria.

Lahham criticized the double standard policy adopted by terrorism-supporting parties regarding Syria events. “These parties accuse the Syrian Government of being behind current security events taking place in the region, but don’t, at the same time, condemn any of the crimes perpetrated by the terrorists. They even ignore the black human rights record of the Arab regimes leading the campaign against Syria.”

“Western states claim they are against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, but actually allow arm supplies to terrorists and don’t even try to halt terrorists’ infiltration into Syria,” he said.

He stressed the Syrian people’s decision to win the battle against terrorism, thanks to the unity between the army, people and leadership and to the support of freedom-loving countries like Iran, Russia and China.

The Syrian-Iranian relations are deep-rooted characterized with old friendship and fraternity based on mutual respect, confidence and common strategic options mainly  supporting resistance, Lahham pointed out, citing the pressure being put on both countries to separate their stances.

The PA Speaker added “falsifying the facts in Syria has become one of the  characteristics of Western and some Arab media involved in collusion against Syria, but this image has become clear to the Syrian citizens.”

Director of the Iranian Fars News Agency, Sayyed Nizameddin Mousawi described the anti-Syria media campaign as a war of lies led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.  

He stressed that the agency had provided balanced coverage for events in  Syria. “The agency will continue to provide wider coverage to the crisis in Syria, particularly after it has opened an office in Damascus,” he added.

“Defending Syria is our duty as a friendly country to the Syrian people,” he reiterated.

For his part, the Iranian Ambassador in Damascus, Mohammad Riza Shibani underlined the role of the agency in covering events with complete credibility to convey an image of what is really going on in this country to the Iranian people and to the peoples of the Islamic world.

   Hamda Moustafa