Al-Zou’bi: Syria Ready for Dialogue with All Opposition Forces Seeking National Dialogue, Settlement

DAMASCUS, (ST) – Syria is ready for dialogue with all opposition parties inside Syria and abroad, even the armed groups which drop their weapons, stop violence, and commit themselves to national dialogue without preconditions or foreign agendas, Information Minister Omran al-Zou’bi stressed on Sunday.

In an interview with the Iranian al-Alam Channel, al- Zou’bi said commitment to national dialogue means starting a real and normal political process the results of which will determine Syria’s future.

“We never heard about any initiative by political opposition parties abroad regarding dialogue. On the contrary they keep refusing the idea of dialogue with the Syrian state and government, and this makes their political program useless and fruitless,” the minister said.

 He added that political solution of the crisis is the only way leading all the Syrians, without exceptions, towards victory, pointing out that this solution has been officially and comprehensively proposed by the Syrian leadership through a political program which not only leads to solving the crisis, but also to treating the socio-economic repercussions of the crisis.

“The committee, tasked with implementing the political program, has provided guarantees to opposition forces and individuals abroad, who want to take part in the national dialogue, by halting all prosecutions against them,” al-Zou’bi said.

He pointed out that the leadership has called for dialogue and political solution since the beginning of the crisis and now this call is based on political pluralism and on the participation of all influential Syrian political and social forces in managing the country’s affairs in the light of a democratic process. 

“The leadership’s calls received no response by the opposition parties as they thought that they can, based on the Egyptian, Yemeni, Tunisian and Libyan experiences, to overthrow the leadership in Syria by using the same tools,” Minister al-Zou,bi affirmed.

He urged the Syrian opposition inside Syria and abroad to reconsider their way of thinking and try to think in a more nationalistic way which takes the safety of the homeland into consideration.

On the Syrian-Russian relations, al-Zou’bi said they are firm and deeply rooted. “Russia is a friendly country which has adopted an open and evident stance towards the ongoing events in Syria.”

He pointed out that Minister of Expatriates and Foreign Affairs Walid al-Moallem visits Moscow now and then for political coordination only with the Russian leadership and within the framework of implementing the political program to solve the crisis.

Al-Zou’bi criticized the U.S. and the Security Council’s refrain to condemn the terrorist bombings recently hit Damascus, stressing that this behavior confirms the American administration’s double standard policy.

“Change in Syria is a Syrian decision and it can be achieved only with a democratic political process,” the minister affirmed.

Regarding the stances of some regional and Arab countries towards the crisis in Syria, al-Zou’bi said the Qatari and Saudi stances are not the same towards Syria events, but they don’t express any national interest, pointing out that there are no contacts with the Saudi leadership and that there is nothing new in the Saudi stance.

Al-Zou’bi stressed that the Turkish government is involved in the political, military, security, terrorist and economic aspects of the ongoing events in Syria.

“Stealing and looting acts were committed under the sight and knowledge of the Turkish government,” the minister said, pointing out that thefts are valued at billions of Syrian Pounds.

Al-Zou’bi stressed that the Foreign Ministry always informs the world’s influential countries and the United Nations about facts confirming the Turkish government’s involvement in the crisis in Syria.

Al-Zou’bi, who commended the Syrian-Iranian ties, stressed that the talk about the existence of members from the Iranian Revolution Guards in Syria is part of the conspiracy hatched against Syria. He also refuted allegations about the existence of Hizbollah members in the country

The Information Minister said that there are some Lebanese political forces who contribute directly to smuggling weapons and gunmen into Syria, but the Lebanese government keeps adopting the self distancing policy on Syria.

Commenting on Israel’s admission of some wounded terrorists to its hospitals for treatment, the minister said “constant coordination between the Israeli occupation and armed groups is not new.”

H. Mustafa