President Bashar Al-Assad says it would
take at least a year and $1 billion for Syria to
surrender its chemical weapons as al-
Qaeda-linked fighters tightened their grip on
a border town. In a confident interview with US network
Fox News, Assad insisted Syria was not
gripped by civil war but was the victim of
infiltration by foreign-backed al-Qaeda
fighters. His appearance came as UN envoys debated
a draft resolution that would enshrine in
international law a joint US-Russian plan to
secure and neutralise his banned weapons. The plan is to be discussed at a meeting in
The Hague on Friday by the world’s
chemical weapons watchdog, the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons. Assad insisted in the television interview
that his forces had not been behind an
August 21 gas attack on the Damascus
suburbs that killed hundreds of civilians, but
vowed nevertheless to hand over his
deadly arsenal. It was his second interview this month with
US television, and one of a series of
meetings with Western journalists to
counter mounting political pressure from
Western capitals. After last month’s barrage of sarin-loaded
rockets, which the West says was clearly
launched by the regime, US President Barack
Obama called for US-led punitive military
strikes. But with US lawmakers and the Western
public not sold on the virtues of another
Middle East military adventure, Assad’s ally
Russia seized the opportunity to propose a
diplomatic solution. Pushed by President Vladimir Putin, the
White House agreed to hold fire while
Russia and the international community –
with Assad’s agreement – draws up a
disarmament plan. Assad reiterated his pledge to cooperate,
but insisted he had not been forced to do so
by US threats of US action. “I think it’s a very complicated operation,
technically. And it needs a lot of money,
about a billion,” he told Fox. “So it depends, you have to ask the experts
what they mean by quickly. It has a certain
schedule. It needs a year, or maybe a little
bit more.” Asked why he had used force to repress a
popular uprising and triggered a two-and-a-
half year war that has claimed 110,000
lives, Assad insisted Syria was a victim of
terrorism. “What we have is not civil war. What we
have is war. It’s a new kind of war,” he said,
alleging that Islamist guerrillas from more
than 80 countries had joined the fight. “We know that we have tens of thousands
of jihadists … we are on the ground, we live
in this country,” he said, disputing an expert
report that suggested 30,000 out of around
100,000 rebels were hardliners. “What I can tell you is that … 80 to 90 per
cent of the underground terrorists are al-
Qaeda and their offshoots.” Meanwhile, the situation on the ground
became still more complex and dangerous,
when – according to residents – an al-Qaeda
front group overran a Syrian border town on
Wednesday. “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIS) has seized complete control of Azaz.
They are in control of the town’s
entrances,” said Abu Ahmad, an activist
inside the town. The fighting in Azaz began when ISIS
fighters tried to kidnap a German doctor
working there, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, which added
that he is now in a safe location. “The situation in Azaz is unchanged
(Thursday),” Observatory director Rami
Abdel Rahman told AFP. “There are attempts to mediate between
the factions. Azaz is home to many people
who fled (the nearby city of) Aleppo,” he
added. “They want to live in a safe place, not one
where anything that moves gets sniped.”
Elsewhere, roadside bombs targeting a
convoy of minibuses in the central province
of Homs killed nine civilians on Thursday,
Abdel Rahman said. [AFP]
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