* Picture: Russia Today broadcast
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President of Syria Bashar al Assad has given his first interview after a year. Speaking to Afshin Rattansi from Russia Today, Assad has answered a series of questions about the civil war in Syria and the future of the country.
In response to a question on the reconstruction of Syria, Assad has said, "For the human resources, we have the human resources enough to build our country" and added, "Definitely, the friendly countries like China, Russia and Iran, will have priority in this rebuilding."
Regarding any possible contribution by other countries in this process, such as the European Union (EU) countries, Assad has said, "Every country which stood against Syria will not have a chance to be part of this reconstruction."
'US wanted to use terror against Syria'
Assad has also attracted attention to the role of the US in supporting radical Islamist organizations. He has said the following about the issue:
"The American policy in general depends on trials and errors. They invaded Afghanistan, they got nothing. They invaded Iraq, they got nothing, and they started to invade other countries but in different ways. They change the way. The problem with the United States now is that they fight a survival war from their point of view because they are losing their hegemony.
"So, Al-Qaeda is a proxy against the Syrian government, against the Russian government and the Iranian government. That is why they have been using this, but you have evidence. How did ISIS rise suddenly in 2014? Out of nowhere? Out of nothing? In Iraq and Syria at the same time, with American armaments? It is very clear.
"How could they smuggle millions of barrels of oil to Turkey under the supervision of the American aircrafts, how? Because the Americans wanted to use them against the Syrian Army. It is not something we said; the Americans said that, and the facts said the same story.
'War in Syria is microcosm of the world war 3'
"If the war is about the oil as a factor, yes, this is likely to be. But this is not the only factor; do not forget that there is a war between the US and rest of the world. Now, we are talking about tectonic shifting and earthquakes.
"Because the world order after World War II has expired, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union; the one polar world does not work anymore. So, you have rising powers like Russia, China and India and other countries.
"The Unites States does not accept any partner in leading the world, even UK, France, even other big countries, I would not call them great powers because this is another meaning, they are not great anymore. They don not accept partners. That is why they are fighting now.
"So, the war in Syria is microcosm of the world war III, let's say, but without armaments; through proxies. You have different factors. The oil is one factor of the war, not because of the oil."
'The enemy is not Turkish people, but Erdoğan'
Assad has also responded to a question on Turkey's Operation Peace Spring launched into northern Syria on October 9. To the question, "You negotiate with your enemies, not your friends?", Assad has answered:
"Yes, we are, but not with Erdogan, not me with him. No. It is on the security level; it happened through the Russians. It was a tripartite meeting; it happened two or three times. It led nowhere.
"So we are not against the principles to negotiate with enemies, especially when we do not consider the Turks as enemies. The Turkish people are our neighbors, and we have a common history, and we cannot make them the enemy. The enemy is Erdogan and his policy and his coteries.
"So, to be against those groups in Turkey and in Syria that does not mean that we see eye to eye in another aspect, especially after he invaded Syria, publicly and formally."
'Baghdadi prepared by the US to play this role'
Lastly, Assad has also spoken about al Baghdadi, the ISIS leader killed by the US. Voicing his suspicions about his death, Assad has said,
"He was in their prisons under their supervision, and the Americans were the ones who released Al-Baghdadi, so they would not release him without any role, and suddenly Al-Baghdadi became Al-Khalifah of the Muslims in the world as he assigned himself.
"He was prepared by the Americans to play that role and we do not believe this recent story of killing him. Maybe he is killed, but it's not about what they've mentioned. The whole story was about whitewashing the American hand from being hand in a glove with the terrorists during the last, not only few years, but during the last decades.
"They wanted to erase the memory of their public opinion that they were in direct link with those terrorists, especially Al- Qaeda, ISIS and Al-Nusra. When Saddam Hussein was captured, they showed him. When he was executed, they showed the event of execution. When his children were killed, they showed their bodies. The same with al-Gaddafi.
"Why did not they show us the body of Bin Laden? Why did not they show us the body of Al-Baghdadi? Just fake story about being against terrorists and this very sophisticated operation.
"Maybe he is killed because he is expired as a person; they needed somebody else, and maybe they wanted to change the whole name of ISIS into another name to bring ISIS as a moderate organization to be used again in the market against the Syrian government." (PT/SD)
