Saudi Arabia, Turkey not committed to truce in Syria: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Redwan Rizk, a political commentator in Beirut, about Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman saying Tehran is in constant touch with Russia over Syria and that foreign-backed militants are not abiding by the truce in the war-torn country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman in his press address earlier today stated that the militants that are fighting the government in Syria are not committed to the ceasefire deal, whatsoever. Give us your thoughts on that statement.

Rizk: Well this is true for sure because the fighters or those terrorist groups on the ground fighting in Syria do not own their own decisions because the decision is somewhere else. Their decision is in Turkey and Saudi Arabia and both countries are not willing and they have shown no will at all, whatsoever, to be committed or at least to compromise to ease the clashes on the ground.  

So as we know that heavy clashes and many major attacks were committed by those terrorist groups against civilians and a hospital in Aleppo and they are trying to gain more territories that they have lost during the past couple of months on the ground in order to justify or to correct their position or their situation on the negotiation table in Geneva.

Saudi Arabia now I believe … is in a new turn in the region. They are trying to gain more time to prolong this war in Iraq and Syria. They are waiting for Obama’s administration, for the elections in America, for Obama to leave and they are hoping that the new government in [the] United States will lift their hands from pressuring Saudi Arabia or stopping Turkey from invading Syria or getting more involved in the Syrian clashes and the Iraqis also.

So now I believe that we are not going to see any kind of ceasefire holding in Syria. They are not willing to give the negotiations in Geneva any chance to reach a decision or at least a truce or a permanent truce, let’s say a truce in Syria. So that is why … Iran and Russia are aware of this and they are dealing with the situation militarily on the ground. The operation is going on, smashing some of those groups, stopping all kinds of attacks against many major fronts in Syria, in Idlib, Hama and Aleppo.

So we are going to see ... the clashes in Syria are going to get heavier and heavier during the next couple of months. Erdogan is desperate to achieve something in Syria and so far he did not after five years of clashes. Saudi Arabia is just igniting more wars and the failure of the negotiations towards Yemen in Kuwait shows that the Saudis have no will, whatsoever, to reach any kind of ceasefire, stopping or kind of calming down the fronts at least, they are still attacking everywhere.

So the Saudis now are leading a major war just to implement their strategy and their vision in the region. So as I said they are hoping. The falling project of Saudi Arabia in the region is just making the Saudis act in a very foolish way. They are sinking and sinking more in the mud swamp in Syria and Iraq.

So the hope is they are waiting for the Americans and the Americans so far, the present administration we know that their strategy and their policy which does not meet in all ways the strategy and the needs or maybe the hopes of Saudi Arabia. So this is why we are not going to see any kind of calm front from now till September, maybe October, the election time due in America and the picture would be more correct or more clear which direction the American election is going to take.  

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