Information Minister: Syria’s steadfastness forced change in countries’ political stances

DAMASCUS – Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Syria is fighting a war of global nature against terrorism, adding that reason of the Russian military aid is that the issue is a cross-border threat and it poses dangers on the regional and international security.

In an interview with the Syrian Ikhbariya TV and reported by SANA, al-Zoubi stressed both Russia and Iran share the same stances with Syria concerning fighting terrorism, denying any presence of Cuban or North Korean forces on the Syrian soil because “Russia’s presence is more than sufficient”.

 Syria’s steadfastness, al-Zoubi highlighted, forced changes in the political positions of a number of countries, adding that the U.S. role is very different from the Russia one as the US alleges there is a “moderate opposition” and Washington has trained a number of them before they willingly joined Jabhet al-Nusra, the Americans know those were terrorists.

He said the “moderate opposition” term is used to camouflage groups that no one truly knows where their loyalty lies and to what terrorist group it is affiliated.

“Any side that wants to fight the ISIS should cooperate with the Syrian state and army,” he underlined.

He welcomed Egypt’s stances over the Russian military participation and said this indicates a deep understanding of the developments in the region, adding that the stances of KSA on the other side mirror its stubborn and firm support for terrorists in coordination with the Turkish and Qatar regimes.

On his stance over U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s call for and international conference and a quadruple coalition, al-Zoubi said no serious talks were held in this regard, adding that inviting KSA to be part of such coalition is illogical as it is involved in supporting terrorists.

There are segments of the opposition who are against the government but they reject terrorism; those we have no problem with, al-Zoubi said, adding that Syria has agreed on the “brainstorming committees” suggested as a preface to Geneva 3 and Moscow 3 but no crystal-clear suggestions for Geneva 3 or Moscow 3 was set until now.