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Removing Syria’s Assad unacceptable, unpractical: Analyst

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is interviewed by Lebanon's al-Manar TV, August 26, 2015. (AFP Photo)

Press TV has interviewed Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst, in Moscow, about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s recent remarks, saying that Bashar al-Assad is Syria’s legitimate president and demanding his resignation is “unrealistic.”

Following is a rough transcription.

Press TV: What do you make of the Russian Foreign Minister’s comments, basically saying that it is wrong what the opposition group and also some of the foreign countries… they should not have a precondition as saying that Bashar al-Assad has to step down?

Sleboda: Well, this is Sergei Lavrov reiterating the long-held Russian position on the crisis for years now. This in the face of recent calls by the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, the United States and others as the US tries to push for another round of negotiations that would involve, they insist, President Assad stepping down.

Russia does not accept that as either practical or acceptable. It views it as an unacceptable imposition by foreign powers in the domestic affairs of a sovereign Syrian state. It also views it as unpractical because the most effective fighting force on the ground against ISIS (Daesh) and the many other terrorist forces in Syrian and Iraq that have risen largely out of this repeated Western and GC interference and support for them over the last four years.

The most effective fighting forces on the ground are the Syrian Arab Army and the Syrian state.

Press TV: What do you make then of that; on the one hand the United States says that their number one priority is fighting terrorism and especially concentrating on Daesh or ISIL, but on the other hand as you just said a force that has been very effective and that is Bashar al-Assad’s military… they have been effective but now we see the United States, with support of other countries, trying to send in more individuals that they call “the moderate militants,” fighting against that same military that is actually the main force in fighting against Daesh and also one of the leading individuals trying to lead that fight against Daesh, Bashar al-Assad, continuing to demand that he steps down.  

Sleboda: It is unpractical to ask Assad to step down; that would demoralize the Syrian army, the Syrian state. At this point, the fight against terrorism is obviously the most important for the lives of all Syrians as well as for everyone in the region and the world. When the US says its primary mission and goal in all of this is to fight terrorism, I can’t say more bluntly they are lying.

Their words and their actions are in direct contradiction with each other. On one hand they say they are committed to the fight against ISIS, on the other hand they say that they cannot properly pursue that until their long-held demands of regime change in Syria are met. These policies are obviously in complete contradiction to each other and it shows that the US’ true and most important purpose in Syria is the overthrow of the Syrian government and fighting Daesh, if at all, only comes in a distant second on their list of priorities. 


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