I24News — Sept 15, 2015

If Europe was truly concerned about the masses of refugees arriving in the continent from Syria, it would “stop supporting terrorism,” Syrian President Bashar Assad charged in an interview with Russian media, adding that the Syrian people only want to live in “security and safety.”

“It’s not about that Europe didn’t accept them or embrace them as refugees, it’s about not dealing with the cause. If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists,” Assad told reporters.

“That’s what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees,” he added.

“If we ask any Syrian today about what they want, the first thing they would say – ‘We want security and safety for every person and every family’,” the Syrian president said, adding that political forces “should unite around what the Syrian people want.”

Assad also called for a continuation of the dialogue between warring parties in Syria “in order to reach the consensus,” which cannot be implemented “unless we defeat the terrorism in Syria.”

“If you want to implement anything real, it’s impossible to do anything while you have people being killed, bloodletting hasn’t stopped, people feel insecure,” the Syrian president said.

“I’d like to use our meeting today to address all parties in a call to unite in the struggle against terrorism. Only through dialogue and the political process can we reach political goals, that the Syrians should set for themselves,” he added.

‘Significant progress’

Rebel rocket fire into regime-held districts of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo meanwhile, killed at least 38 people on Tuesday, among them 14 children, a monitoring group said.

“Rocket fire on government districts is still going on,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“It’s one of the heaviest tolls yet from rebel bombardment of Aleppo,” he said.

He gave a toll of at least 150 wounded in the attacks on the west of the city which Syrian state media earlier said had killed at least 19 people and wounded 95.

Western Aleppo is controlled by regime forces while rebels are in the east of the city.

Rebels often fire rockets and makeshift missiles into the west, and the regime carries out aerial bombardment of the east.

The latest deaths come as French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said jihadists from the Islamic State group were making major gains in Syria, especially in the Aleppo region.

In parliament, Le Drian pointed to “the very significant progress of Daesh (IS) in Syria at this very moment,” as he defended France’s decision to conduct surveillance flights over Syria with a view to carrying out air strikes.

“I’m thinking in particular of what is currently happening in the Aleppo region.
“There is an extremely strong offensive taking place on the small town of Marea, which if it succeeded would wipe out what we still call the Free Syrian Army or the national Syrian coalition, or what is left of it.”

Keep up military support

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to continue military support for Assad after Washington sounded the alarm over an alleged military build-up by Moscow in the war-torn country.

“We support the government of Syria in its fight against terrorist aggression, we provide and will go on providing it with all necessary military assistance,” Putin said at a regional security conference in ex-Soviet Tajikistan.

A US military official told AFP on Monday that Russia has sent artillery units and seven tanks to a Syrian air base as part of moves to boost its military presence there.

The alleged increase of Russian hardware in Syria has caused concerns in the West about the implications of Moscow militarily helping its long-time ally Assad.

Russia has denied it is expanding its military presence in Syria but has pledged to continue support for Assad.

US officials have expressed fears that Russia may strike Western-backed rebel groups battling Assad and ultimately risk a confrontation with forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) group.

Moscow has been pushing for a broader coalition of forces to take on IS, but key regional players such as Saudi Arabia have ruled out fighting alongside Assad.

Putin said that Assad was willing to work with Syria’s “healthy” opposition to find a political solution to the four-and-a-half year civil war but insisted that tackling IS was the priority.

“Undoubtedly the need to unite forces in the fight against terror comes to the forefront today,” Putin said.

The Kremlin strongman blasted critics of Moscow’s support for the “legitimate” Syrian authorities and said the current migrant crisis rocking Europe would be even more dire if Russia had not backed Assad.

“If Russia had not supported Syria the situation in the country would be even worse than in Libya and the flow of refugees would be even greater,” he said.

Russian build-up

Russia has sent artillery and seven tanks to a Syrian air base as part of Moscow’s continued military buildup in the war-ravaged nation, a US official said Monday.

The increase of Russian hardware in Syria has caused concerns in the West about the implications of Moscow militarily helping its old ally, President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the US official told AFP the seven T-90 tanks arrived in recent days but had not been sent outside the airbase near Latakia, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.

“We have seen movement of people and things that would suggest the air base south of Latakia could be used as a forward air operating base,” Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper reported that Russia had about half a dozen T-90 tanks, 15 howitzers, 35 armored personnel carriers, 200 marines and housing for as many as 1,500 personnel at the airfield near the Assad family’s ancestral home.

Deadly attacks

At least 19 people were killed Tuesday by rebel rocket fire on government-held parts of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, state media said.

State television also reported 95 people wounded in rocket attacks on neighborhoods in the west of Aleppo.

That area is controlled by regime forces while rebels are in the east of the city.

Rebels often fire rockets and makeshift missiles into the west, while the regime carries out aerial bombardment of the city’s east.

Elsewhere, state media said seven people were killed in a car bombing in Hasakeh, a day after twin suicide car bomb attacks in the northeastern city.

State news agency SANA said at least 21 people were wounded in the attack, which was later claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group in a statement on social media.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the attack targeted a position of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

It gave an initial toll of four dead, two YPG members and two civilians.

(Staff with AFP)

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