Foreign intervention in Syria "foments temblor": Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Foreign intervention in Syria "foments temblor": Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that foreign intervention in Syria would "cause a temblor that could burn the entire Middle East."

Speaking during an interview with British Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Assad said that Syria now is in the center of the region, adding that "it is the fault line and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake."

"Do you want to see another Afghanistan here... or dozens of Afghanistans," Assad said, adding that "if the West's plan is to divide Syria, it would drag to divide the whole region."

He said the authorities had made "many mistakes" at the start of the uprising, but said only "terrorists" were being targeted now.

"We have very few police, only the army, who are trained to take on al-Qaida," he said. "If you sent in your army to the streets, the same thing would happen. Now, we are only fighting terrorists. That's why the fighting is becoming much less."

"The pace of reform is not too slow. The vision needs to be mature. It would take only 15 seconds to sign a law, but if it doesn't fit your society, you'll have division," he said.

The interview came in the wake of media reports claiming the killing of 17 people on Saturday, and 42 others on Friday during anti-government protests that erupted across Syria.

The death toll on Friday triggered the Arab league ministerial committee to send an urgent letter to the Syrian government to express its anger over the continued bloodshed in the country.

However, a Syrian foreign ministry source rejected Saturday the message from the AL ministerial committee, saying that "it was basically based on media lies broadcasted by tendentious provocative TV channels over what happened in Syria Friday."

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem will brief the committee on Sunday on the situation in Syria.

The anti-government protest has continued in Syria for more than seven months with mounting calls for the downfall of the regime.

The Syrian government blamed the unrest on armed groups and thugs acting out a foreign conspiracy, citing the killing of more than 1,000 army personnel during the turmoil. However, the United Nations estimated that more than 3,000 people had been killed over the past seven months.

English.news.cn   2011-10-30 18:57:58 FeedbackPrintRSS
DAMASCUS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua)