Syrian Coalition: Assad Spoon Feeds Terrorism to Keep His Hold on Power

Louay Safi, spokesman for the Syrian Coalition, said that “the Assad regime not only attracts extremists and terrorists in the region, but also manufactures terrorism to oppress the popular uprising keeping his hold on power. The Assad regime sought since the very beginning of the popular uprising to attract terrorism into Syria with the aim of presenting itself as the only power capable of combating terrorism in the region. While he kept peaceful activists in its jails, Assad released extremists from his jails during the early days of the revolution to spread violence, not only in Syria, but in the whole region.” Safi also stresses that “Assad’s early warnings that its fall would lead to chaos in the region and that extremist groups would get the upper hand, were not a prediction for the future, but political plans he sought to implement in the region.” Moreover, Safi described Assad’s atrocities as “state terrorism aimed at terrorizing the population through the use of banned weapons and barrel bombs to force them to give up their demands for freedom and democracy.” In response to remarks of the spokesman for the U.S State Department Edgar Vasquez, who emphasized that the focus of his country “will be finding a lasting political solution, Safi said that “the necessary conditions for any political initiative are entirely absent now. Therefore, any talk about a politician solution without laying bare the Assad regime’s allegations at the Geneva conference is unrealistic as it ignores the reality experienced by the Syrian people today. The Syrian revolution needs the support necessary to tip the balance in the battlefield, or practical steps must be taken to neutralize Assad’s air force. Assad’s swift yielding to the threat of the use of force following his use of chemical weapons is the biggest proof any talk other than tangible threats of using force is a waste of time and shows disregard for the blood of the Syrians and indirectly support the exacerbation of terrorism in the Arab world.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)