President Assad of Syria has announced his country is at war with it’s insurgency, saying “When one is in a state of war, all our policies and capabilities must be used to secure victory.”
You mean like the US is with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bashir? That means the U.S. won’t have any cause to complain when the Syrian regime: carries out airstrikes on suspected insurgents and counts all males of military age nearby as militants too; launches artillery shells at suspected militants who turn out to be wedding parties; has Tuesday meetings to decide who’s on the kill list; launches airstrikes into neighbouring countries saying it’s in “hot pursuit” of insurgents; hires local militias to do it’s fighting for it; arrests people without charge and ships them off to Iran for indefinite detention and torture or lets those who carry out atrocities while fighting under it’s banner off with a slap on the wrist. All these things, and more, are there to be had now that war is formally declared, thanks to the American Precedent.
Reuters, By Marcus George, Yeganeh Torbati & Zahra Hosseinian, June 28
Dubai – Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in a rare interview broadcast on Thursday that his government had a duty to “annihilate terrorists” to protect its people and ruled out any solution to the crisis imposed from outside the country.
His one-hour interview coincided with a sharp escalation of violence inside Syria and a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of a planned meeting in Geneva that will try to end the bloodshed.
Diplomats said the talks – involving U.N. Security Council members and key regional countries – would focus on a proposed transition plan to pave the way for a unity government.
“The responsibility of the Syrian government is to protect all of our residents. You have a responsibility to annihilate terrorists in any corner of the country,” Assad told Iranian state television.
“When you eliminate a terrorist, it’s possible that you are saving the lives of tens, hundreds, or even thousands,” he said, referring to last month’s massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 100 people, including women and children, were killed.
[...]
He also firmly rejected any solution imposed from outside the country, emphasizing his own commitment to reform instead.
“We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria’s problems as well as we do,” he said.
“We are moving forward with political reforms. But for terrorists and the governments that support them, reforms have no meaning.”