Syria’s psychotic family, led by Baschar al-Assad, declared on Friday that he would not negotiate with armed groups, appearing to scupper peace talks that Russia and the United States hope to bring about next month. Did Putin tell the psychopath Assad not to negotiate because Saudi Arabia was behind establishing the negotiating team?
Washington helped broker an agreement reached on Thursday by more than 100 members of Syria’s opposition parties and more than a dozen rebel fighting groups ranging from Islamists to Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups – but not Islamic State – to send a joint team to meet the government under U.N. auspices next month.
The initiative is driven at least partly by their focus on defeating a common enemy in the form of Islamic State, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and is increasingly ordering or inspiring attacks on the West. Russia does not seem to be bothered much by these attacks.
But in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, the psychopath Assad said he would not hold political talks with any armed groups, and accused Washington and its ally Saudi Arabia of wanting “terrorist groups” to join negotiations. This psychopath calls anyone with a gun a terrorist, even the high officers he vetted personally and defected later from his army.
He said Syria had contact with armed groups for one reason only: “to reach a situation where they give up their armaments and either join the government or go back to their normal life … This is the only way to deal with the militants in Syria.
“There’s no point in meeting in New York or anywhere else without defining terrorist groups,” he said. “For us, in Syria, everyone who holds a machine gun is a terrorist.”
Did Putin tell the psychopath Assad not to negotiate? After 300,000 deaths and millions of refugees of his own people, it does not take a psychologist to see the psychotic personality of Baschar al-Assad.
Foreign ministers of countries opposed to Assad are due to meet in Paris on Monday to prepare for talks with Russia and Middle Eastern countries in New York on Thursday with a specific focus on trying to form the opposition delegation for the peace talks.
Before Assad’s remarks were published, Washington said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Did Putin tell the psychopath Assad not to negotiate to strip the U.S. of any legitimacy over its influence in Syria?
The experience of a failed peace conference in Switzerland two years ago had kept expectations for the latest push low.
DEMANDS THAT ASSAD LEAVE
The rebel groups issued a statement at the end of their two-day conference in Riyadh saying Assad should leave power at the start of a transitional period, and calling for an all-inclusive, democratic civic state.
At one point on Friday, Putin appeared to hold out an olive branch to the West, making what appeared to be Russia’s first explicit statement of support for rebels opposed to Assad in the fight against Islamic State.
At an annual meeting at the Defense Ministry, he said the Free Syrian Army was engaged in “offensive actions against terrorists, alongside regular forces, in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa”.
“We support it from the air, as well as the Syrian army, we assist them with weapons, ammunition and provide material support.” he said.
But FSA groups dismissed any suggestion of Russian support.
Russian air strikes have targeted a number of FSA groups in western Syria, notably factions that have received military support from Assad’s foreign enemies, including anti-tank missiles. A senior Western diplomat said only about 20 percent of Russian strikes had been aimed at Islamic State.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was unable to confirm Putin’s claims. Spokesman John Kirby said, “It’s unclear to us … whether these claims of support to the FSA are true.”
Reuters contributed to this article.
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