Al-Halaqi: Syria combats the most dangerous terrorist gangs

DAMASCUS, (ST)_Prime Minister has affirmed that Syrian people, army and government do combat the most dangerous armed terrorist gangs such as the ISIS, the al-Nusra Front, the Islamic Front and others.

Dr. Wael al-Halaqi’s remark came during the opening ceremony of the International conference on combatting terrorism and religious extremism kicked off today at the “Dama Rose” Hotel in Damascus.

He pointed out that holding this conference in Syria is part of the efforts which have been exerted by the Syrian state over the past four years to combat terrorism and religious extremism.

“Right from the beginning of the crisis, Syria warned those who have supported and funded extremism and terrorism under false slogans that terrorism will spread all over the world, ” al-Halaqi said.

He added that extremism is against moderation which is the core basis of the tolerant religion of Islam.

“Syria has suffered a lot from terrorism and religious extremism, which are based on takfiri thinking,” al-Halqi said, referring to the hundreds of terrorist car bomb blasts and suicide bomber attacks which claimed the lives of thousands of Syrian civilians.

Al-Halqi asserted the Syrian government’s determination to fight terrorism wherever it is in Syria and to ensure basic needs of the steadfast Syrian people.

International plan                                            

He stressed that the success of counter-terrorism efforts is associated with the presence of an international plan agreed upon by the international community within an UN-sponsored International conference aiming to put a unified legal identification of terrorism. 

On his part, Justice Minister Najm al-Ahmad clarified that terrorist organizations receives unprecedented support from some countries with the aim of fragmenting Syria and fomenting sedition.

He criticized the double-standard policy towards what is going on in Syria and the attempts to legitimate terrorists’ acts.

Al-Ahmad asserted that internal political solutions reflects the Syrian citizens’ aspirations for a better future in which no terrorism exists.

“Syria will remain secular and united and for all Syrians regardless of their doctrines and political and ideological visions,” Justice minister stressed.

European Islamic centers teach Takfiri thinking 

While Awqaf Minister Abdul Sattar al-Sayyed called on the participants in the conference to stress that the Wahhabism in a ‘terrorist thinking’ and to ask the United Nations Security Council to issue a resolution to ban the Wahhabi Takfiri curriculums and block all websites belonging to the terrorist organizations.

“The European terrorists, who came to Syria to fight alongside the ISIS and other terrorist groups and perpetrated massacres whilst shouting ‘Allahu Akbar [Allah is Great], were graduated from Islamic centers in London, Paris and Berlin that teache the Wahhabi thinking,” He said.     

He called for considering al-Azhar Jurisprudence as a reference for Islam religion to confront the Takfiri thinking and disseminating Syria’s experience in developing religious curriculums  to all Islamic and European countries in order to protect the next generation from  the destructive thinking.

The conference is due to focus on topics like the International law’s stance on terrorism, terrorism and religious extremism, terrorism and national sovereignty and the illegality of the unilateral economic sanctions on Syria.

Politicians plus religious, cultural and social figures from 25 Arab and foreign states are taking part in the two-day conference.

Hamda Mustafa & Basma Qaddour