President Assad: The West is trying to weaken states beyond its control, depending on puppet governments to implement its plans

DAMASCUS,(ST)_ President Bashar al-Assad today received Foreign Minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ri Su Yong and members of the accompanying delegation.

Ways of deepening the existing cooperation between Syria and the DPRK in many fields, especially economic development and reconstruction processes were discussed during the meeting.

The DPRK Foreign Minister stressed that the great achievements realized by the Syrian people in the war against terrorism, and their success in the presidential elections in spite of persistent attempts by external forces and parties, noting the Syrian people’s gave a severe blow against plans of those forces trying to destroy Syria ‘s unity and its important role on the regional level.

He indicated that many world ‘s peoples are standing with the Syrian people and supporting their steadfastness in the face of the multifaceted war, but in many cases do not express this support openly because of the pressure exerted by forces hostile to Syria, particularly the United States.

For his part, President al-Assad stressed that the West is trying in various ways to weaken and divide the nations beyond its control in order to subject them, noting that in the past, the West depended on puppet governments to implement its plans, and today the terrorist gangs carry out this role, adding that solidarity among peoples to protect their homelands and independence is capable of foiling these plans.

President Assad stressed that the West and other countries that support extremism and terrorism in Syria and in the region should take lessons from actual reality and past experiences and realize that the threat emerging from worsening of the scourge of terrorism will surpass countries in the region to reach the whole world, especially terrorism incubating and supporting countries.

The meeting was attended Walid al-Moallem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Faisal al-Miqdad Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Nadera Assaf, director of Asia Department at the Ministry of Foreign the DPRK ambassador in Damascus.

T. Fateh