‘Turkey going crazy, jumps in to save & help terrorists tools’ – Assad’s adviser to RT
Ankara is going “crazy” over Kurdish and Syrian army advances, which is why it ramped up its support of the so-called “moderate terrorists” and direct violations of Syria’s sovereignty, Assad’s political adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told RT.
Rejecting the avalanche of claims that Damascus and Russian air forces were involved in the bombing of schools and hospitals in Idlib and Alleppo provinces, that according to reports left dozens of civilians dead, Shaaban told RT that the media and politicians are basing their accusations on “unfounded claims...about what the Russians and the Syrian army are doing.”
“What the Syrian army in cooperation with Russian aircraft are doing is fighting terrorism in Syria... And what we are hopeful for is that other countries [will] join, because this terrorism is a threat to the entire[ty of] humanity,” Shaaban stressed.
The success of the anti-terror campaign on the ground, especially along the Turkish border, is making other regional players such as Ankara and Saudi Arabia “go crazy” in their statements and reactions, because they are the ones who are invested so much in “supporting terrorism in Syria,” Shaaban said.
Shaaban accused Ankara of leading the war against Syria by taking advantage of the shared border to allow the infiltration of jihadists “from all over the world” into the Arab Republic.
At a time when the Syrian army and Kurdish forces are making gains on the ground, Turkey is “attacking our cities and villages directly” in order to “save” their investments in the jihadist force they sent into Syria, the adviser said.
“Once Turkey saw that these terrorists are failing or they are being defeated, Turkey jumped in to save them and to help them,” Shaaban said.
READ MORE: Dozens of Turkish military vehicles cross Syria border, dig trenches – report
The UNSC is yet to respond with an official reaction to a letter from Damascus which requested the world body to “stop” Turkish shelling of the Syrian border towns, the adviser noted, adding that in total Syria has sent “over 300 letters” from the beginning of the crisis outlining Turkish violations.
While violating Syrian sovereignty at the same Ankara is “accusing the Kurds of the things that they are not doing,” Shaaban added.
READ MORE: Turkey launched 100+ artillery strikes on Syrian towns in Aleppo – Russian military
Turkey leadership’s ambitions, according to Assad’s adviser, go as far as to resurrect the Ottoman Empire and they are using every means possible, including the refugee crisis, to achieve their agenda.
“It is Turkey who started the refugee crisis four years ago. It was Turkey who put tanks on the borders well before any Syrian refugee was at any border,” she said. The only way out of the refugee crisis is for “Europe and Syria to speak together.”
“Turkey dismantled our factories, stole our heritage; has ambitions to recreate the Ottoman Empire in the Arab world...plus Erdogan government is a Muslim Brotherhood government and that is why they are launching this war with all the terrorist tools,” Shaaban added.
The Damascus spokesperson also once again stressed that there is no such a thing as “moderate” terrorism.
“Anyone who carries arms against civilians, against government, against institutions is a terrorist. Political opposition should be dealing with politics, should be in opposition against the government but by political means, without using arms, without killing people, without beheading people,” she said.
“Can terrorism be moderate?,” Shaaban asked rhetorically, noting that the gruesome 2013 footage showing a Syrian rebel commander who cut out the heart of a fallen enemy soldier before eating it, was a fighter with the Free Syrian Army, which the US and their coalition consider to be part of the “moderate” force.
The adviser did not deny that the conflict results in unfortunate collateral damage and accidental civilian deaths, but insisted that the only way to stop innocent people from dying is to “put an end to terrorism” and to stop arming and funding the extremists by strictly following the United Nations security council resolution that forbids countries supporting jihadist groups in Syria.
“There are all the means available if there is a real will to put an end to terrorism. There is the Security Council resolution 2235, which should force countries to stop financing, arming, facilitating and sending mercenaries and terrorist into Syria,” Shaaban told RT.
“I hope that the Western world would stop looking at Erdogan’s government as the means to help them whether in fighting terrorism or stopping the refugee crisis,” Shaaban said. “We would wish that Russia and America and all countries in the world would join forces in fighting terrorism...instead of exchanging accusations which lead nowhere.”
