Defense Minister: Syrian Army Strong, Invincible

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The Syrian Arab Army is well-trained, invincible and strong enough to preserve the unity of the Syrian land against foreign-backed terrorist groups’ attempts to fragment the country, Deputy Commander-in- Chief of the Army and Armed Forces, Minister of Defense, Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij underscored on Monday.

In a statement to the Syrian TV, Gen al-Freij said the Israeli enemy had ordered the armed terrorist groups to target Syria’s air defenses as Israel realizes that Syria has a kind of long-range defenses which can cover Israel entirely.

He pointed out that the armed terrorist groups target Syrian air defenses on a daily basis and by all means. Therefore, the Command decided to keep these defenses in secure areas and out of the reach of terrorist groups’ attacks.

Gen. al- Freij stressed that the Israeli attack against the Scientific Research Center of Jamraya in Damascus Countryside was carried out in coordination with the armed terrorist groups in Syria, particularly after this center had been exposed to tens of failed attacks by these groups.

He described the aggression as a kind of Israeli response to the armed groups’ losses and to the successful Syrian army operations against terrorists and mercenaries.

The Defense Minister said that with the purpose of protecting the lives of soldiers, the armed forces may evacuate some military positions either because of the small number of guards or because the positions are not so important or too far from basic military centers, referring in this respect to the airport of Taftanaz, close to the Turkish borders. He said the airport, which is of no military or strategic importance, contains out of service helicopters and has a technical staff that is not qualified to fight in such battles.

He pointed out that after the airport had been exposed to a greater pressure by the terrorists for almost a month, the Command decided not to expose the lives of its personnel to danger any more, so it intended to evacuate the personnel from the airport and transfer the valid military equipments to safer palces.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Regarding the Palestinian Camp of al-Yarmouk, which is currently suffering terrorist groups’ practices, Gen Freij said the Syrian army didn’t enter al-Yarmouk Camp. The armed groups entered the camp by orders from Israel with the purpose of embarrassing Syria and showing the Syrian army as if it entered the camp to target the Palestinians.

“The trap was uncovered, so Syria left the issue of the camp to the Palestinians to solve it the way they see as proper to rid themselves from the armed groups,” the minister said.

He stressed that Syria leads the axis of resistance which confronts the Zionist-American scheme in the region. This scheme had tried to weaken and undermine Syria from outside for years, but its failure led conspirators to try to undermine Syria from inside, so they kept funding, arming and sheltering foreign-backed takfiri groups, mercenaries and conspirators from inside the country to achieve their goal.

Gen. Freij pointed out that the armed terrorist groups target the living of Syrian citizens by hitting the state’s infrastructure including the hospitals, schools, factories in addition to the sector of basic services like electricity, water, fuel and transportation.

“The terrorist acts of sabotage, killing and mutilation serve only Syria’s enemies, said the minister, pointing out that it is the duty of the state and the armed forces to help supply and relief materials reach terrorism-affected citizens, but the terrorists block aid convoys, stole materials and burn the cars carrying assistance.

Gen. Freij affirmed that the armed forces will spare no effort to protect the economic and services facilities and to help supply materials reach the terrorism-hit families. He urged citizens to cooperate with the army forces by providing information about the presence of terrorist groups, stressing that the army’s main task is to protect borders and confront the Zionist enemy which occupies our lands.

“Basically, the armed forces task is not to pursuit armed gangs, but when a large number of terrorists is recruited to implement a conspiracy against Syria, it becomes the duty of the armed forces to confront these terrorists in case they entered any district, village or city in the country,” al-Freij said.

The Defense Minister stressed that the terrorists intend to displace the people of every district they entered to and even kill all who don’t support them. “Here, comes the role of the army in clearing the area from terrorists, bringing back the displaced to their houses and restoring normal live to the area,” the minister said.

He added terrorists used to hide in populated areas and the Syrian army delays military operations in these areas starting from its keenness to protect the lives of innocent civilians and minimize destruction.

In his interview with the Syrian TV, the minister tackled other issues like the Command’s efforts to assist families of army martyrs and measures to release military personnel kidnapped by terrorist groups.

H. Mustafa