Syrian President: Syria Built its Policy on National & Popular Compass

President Bashar al-Assad stressed that the national and ethical conditions which are interrelated for the majority of Syrian people are the primary element that confronted the pressures which Syria is exposed to at the hands of the world's most powerful states along with many regional states, adding "the national and ethical conditions withstood many tempting offers of money and other things."

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - President Bashar al-Assad stressed that the national and ethical conditions which are interrelated for the majority of Syrian people are the primary element that confronted the pressures which Syria is exposed to at the hands of the world's most powerful states along with many regional  states, adding "the national and ethical conditions withstood many tempting offers of money and other things."

In an interview with the Iran's Channel 4 on Thursday evening,  President al-Assad said the Syrian people play the primary role in preserving Syria as a state,  since the role of the state institutions and army can't be separated from the people, and that otherwise the state could not have stood in the face of the popular stance, noting that this was expressed through the spontaneous demonstrations in the street.

President al-Assad emphasized that the solid internal situation is the real barrier which prevents the success of any foreign interference, whether this interference is through pumping money or sending weapons, stressing that the internal and external situations are inseparable and that one cannot assign percentages to their role in the crisis.

The President voiced support to the six-point plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan, saying that the plan is good and is still viable now and in the future, affirming that Syria approved it out of conviction, particularly the article related to the ending of violence which means the cessation of the criminal acts of the terrorist groups and the cessation of providing them with money and weapons by the countries who sponsor them.

President al-Assad said that western and regional countries who claim to back this plan are making false claims because  they consider the failure of the Annan's plan in their favor as a way of accusing Syria of causing its failure and justify their going to the UN Security Council to adopt resolutions against it.

He added that some countries are not content with the Security Council; rather they want a military strike similar to what happened in Libya, but it seems that their attempts, until the moment, have failed.

"We don't have any information of specific plans, but there are bids by the a few countries to push the issue towards military action. However, a little sense they have prevents them from going to a military action because the region – with its geopolitical importance and social structure – is a seismic fault line, and in a case of any manipulation of this fault line, the earthquake will move far in different directions. So, this issue is much greater than the calculations of some," President al-Assad said.

He noted that proper analysts for what is going on in the region shows that there is a conflict between two projects: the resistance project which rejects hegemony, and the Greater Middle East project, adding that this conflict is not new but as old as colonialism; it was just given a new name.

President al-Assad pointed out that the New Middle East  which people of the region want  is a Middle East which is resistant  to all projects that come from abroad, all dictations, all occupation and hegemony, as it is a project that stems from the people in the region and their interests.

He went on to say that he believes that this conflict will continue, saying "however, we as states and peoples in this region will not allow any other project to pass if it does not express our interests."

President al-Assad said that Syria is paying the price for its  political positions in supporting the resistance and adhering to the Arab and Islamic rights, in addition to the fact that its geo-political position is important, adding that Syria has always been exposed to interference bids or an arena for conflict between superpowers throughout history. 

"Controlling Syria means controlling a big part of the political decision in the region, and  the attack to which Syria is exposed to today is not the first one; in 2005 it was exposed to a similar attack but it failed, so it they moved to another method," he said.

President al-Assad stressed that supporting the resistance in Palestine and other areas will continue as long as the people don't relinquish this support, stressing that Syria has mainly built its policy on the national and popular compass, and not the foreign or Western one.

The President stressed that the Palestinian cause is the core of all causes in our region, particularly the Arab region, and if the Palestinian issue isn't resolved and if the rights aren't restored, then there would be no changes in positions even if one waited for generations, adding " now we are speaking about the third or fourth generation since the occupation of Palestine, and the positions didn't and will not change. "

"What is happening in Syria has several aspects; international, regional and internal dimensions which converged with each other to carry Syria into a crisis it never experienced before nor did it experience anything similar to it… The international side is mainly linked to the position of countries with colonial history which did not change the essence of their colonialist policies; rather they changed the form and moved from direct occupation to methods of imposing opinions and dictations… they reject the existence of countries which have independence and defend  their interests and say no when  there is something contrary to their own convictions or principles."

President al-Assad said that the regional aspect is linked to the region's countries and has multiple aspects as well, as there are countries that are shamed by the Syrian political position towards various issues, whether in Palestine, Iraq,  Lebanon or elsewhere, adding "they saw a chance in these circumstances to downscale or crush the Syrian role… and then there are countries that aren't necessarily against the Syrian position,  but they are subject to foreign dictations and unable to adopt a resolution to express their  vision or that of their people."

He pointed out that some states formally announced that it will send weapons in one way or another to the terrorist groups, and since these forces spoke  about themselves as such then there's no point in discussing this issue or seeking evidence.

"In terms of the internal aspect, Syria, like any country, has positives and negatives, but any problems or challenges should not reach the point where a Syrian kills another Syrian… We, as in many countries of the world, have problems related to corruption, equitable distribution of income,  equality of opportunities, and economic or political development, but these points were exploited to convert some Syrian who are ignorant or have no principles to mercenaries working against their own country for money,"  President al-Assad explained.

President al-Assad made it clear that those who are killing the Syria people are a mixture of outlaws and religious extremists whose numbers are not very big but they are dangerous, along with Al Qaeda or organizations that adopt a similar ideology, stressing  that the rate of participation in the killings differed since the beginning of the crisis, but currently the extremists constitute the largest number of killers.

He said that these people receive money to commit massacres at specific times to support a certain decision or a particular conflict at the UN Security Council in order to change the balance inside the council, adding that the same thing happened to the resistance in Lebanon in past years when a certain assassination or  a particular crime was committed on the eve of issuing a certain decision pertaining to the resistance or the situation in Lebanon.

President al-Assad added that Al Qaeda is present in Syria and a number of persons who belong to this organization were arrested and confessed to committing crimes.

"Al Qaeda is a US creation financed by Arab countries, and this is well-known… the Americans adopt an interim policy according to the interim interests. They used to support Al Qaeda and called its members in the eighties – as former US President Ronald Reagan did –freedom fighters, and years later they became terrorists… Now some of them are back to dealing with them and now they say that there's good extremism and bad extremism, meaning that  they divide roles and change their labels and terms according to the condition of the U. S.;  if Al Qaeda strikes at a country that they do not like, it is good, and if it strikes against the U.S. or its allies' interests in a certain area, it becomes bad."

President al-Assad said that the state's responsibility, in accordance with the Constitution,  is to protect all its citizens in all the Syrian territories, and when it takes out a terrorist, it protects dozens and perhaps hundreds or thousands, because a terrorist targets citizens from one place to another.

"We didn't release any person whose hands are stained with Syrian blood; we released persons who have taken up arms as a result of false understanding or ignorance or because of the need for money, but they have not committed criminal acts, and they made a self-initiative and turned themselves in to the state and asked to be allowed to return to the correct position in society… it's natural to be tolerant with those and give them the opportunity to be patriotic people again," he explained.

President al-Assad pointed out that reform in Syria is an ongoing process which started in 2000 in parallel with difficult external circumstances faced by Syria pertaining to putting pressure on it to give up the Palestinian cause and stop supporting the resistance.

"Indicators today don't show a link between reform and what is going on because the reform now didn't improve  the conditions… the terrorists and the countries that back them are not concerned with reform; rather they want chaos. Even if we implemented reform now or before, what happened would have happened, because it was planned abroad and not a spontaneous issue linked to reform," he elaborated.

President al-Assad said that the replication or cloning of any model from one country in another requires cloning the entire people with their history, customs, morals, traditions and the context they are going through, which is practically  impossible, stressing there is no model that is applied in a place to resolve a certain crisis that can be applied elsewhere, regardless of the fact what was applied in Libya is not a model of a solution since it transferred Libya to a much worse situation and now everyone can see how the Libyan people are paying the price.

"We, in Syria,  do not accept any model  that is not Syrian and national, regardless of whether it was  imposed by superpowers or proposed by friendly countries. No one knows how to resolve the problem in Syria as well as we do, as Syrians… so, any model that comes from abroad is unacceptable regardless of its content."

President al-Assad said that Syria appreciates the objective positions of countries on the international level such as China and Russia, countries in the region like Iran, and other countries  in the world, noting that these positions are not in defense of a government or a person as the west is trying to portray them; rather they defend the stability  of  the region because Syria is an important country and its stability affects the stability of the region and the world.

On Turkey's position regarding the Syrian crisis, President al-Assad stressed the need to make a distinction between the positions of some Turkish state officials and the popular temperament, the later being positive towards what is happening in Syria because they know most of the facts despite the media falsification in Turkey.

"As for the revival of the Ottoman Empire, I believe we're now in another age that is different in every way, and this is no longer possible… our vision for relations with Turkey and the Turkish role was that it was possible to build an empire of good relations, alliances and organizations that unite interests, similar to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and others; these new empires can be built through objective and rational positions that express the region's interests, and not by becoming subject to westerns – or specifically U.S. – positions."

President al-Assad noted that the Arab League was never allowed to play a positive role in the causes of Arab countries, and that the Arab Summits were mostly arenas of conflict in the face of the proposed projects or concepts that are against Arab interest, adding that the League wasn't allowed to play a role due to the actions of certain well-known countries that always implement foreign plans in the Arab arena.

He pointed out that the League was allowed to play a role through these very countries, only it was against Arab countries, which is what happened with Libya when the Arab League gave cover to the bombardment of Libya.

"Syria may have been the only country that openly rejected that decision, and we had to pay the price of that position. So they moved directly after that decision to attack Syria through the Arab League… this is the truth of the Arab League, in the past and in the present," President al-Assad concluded.

Israel is a crime against humanity

Thanks to the fact that much of the western media deliberately avoids exposing Israeli criminality, probably for fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, much of the brutal ugliness of the Jewish state remains unknown to millions of Europeans and North Americans.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - This is the reason that many people in the west are still buying the big, obscene lie that Israel is a western democracy which upholds basic human rights and civil liberties. But the facts on the ground are much uglier than many people think, irrespective of how vociferous and dogged Israeli hasbara operatives get when defending and justifying Israeli misdeeds and crimes.

The truth of the matter is that institutionalized oppression, racism and terror against the native Palestinians have always constituted and continue to constitute Israel's modus operandi.

Yes, the shipyard dogs of Israeli propaganda will concoct a thousand lies and point to a thousand red herrings to divert attention from the subject. They would invoke the holocaust, Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Treblinka, the Jewish origin of Christianity and many other impertinent issues in an effort to justify or more correctly distract attention from the real issue, namely the brazen evil fact of Jewish Nazism.

They would fornicate with the truth and with language in order to convince misinformed and often gullible westerners that Israel has to behave the way it does because otherwise its very survival would be in danger.

But the truth remains sufficiently plain for anyone willing to call the spade a spade. The task is certainly not easy, but not quite impossible, provided one maintains a respectable degree of rectitude and honesty.

I am saying this because the bulk of Israel's supporters are malicious liars, e.g, know well they are supporting oppression and evil, or ignoramuses, like most Israel's supporters on the American arena.

We don't deny the obvious fact that there are in the region other nefarious regimes which savage, torment and murder their own people in order to remain in power. However, violence in the neighborhood, however pornographic it may be, should never make Israel look good.

After all, Israel itself remains a crime against humanity, if only because it uprooted, supplanted and is seeking the national obliteration of millions of Palestinians whose main "guilt" is their being non-members of the holy tribe.

Israel stole their land, demolished their homes, destroyed their villages, burned their fields and then expelled them to the four winds, while filling the ether with endless mendacious hasbara about Jewish democracy, morality and genius.

This week, the London-based human rights organization, Amnesty International, published its 2012 report about the status of human rights all over the world.

The group accused Israel of a long list of violations, including torture, restricting movement, limiting freedom of speech, detaining people without charge or trial for prolonged periods as well as maintaining a siege that strangles 1.6 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The truth of the matter, however, is that quasi-academic reports of Israeli human rights violation, even those published by respectable human rights groups, remain quite insufficient to fully communicate the ugly reality of the Israeli state. In the final analysis, Israel is sinking in a sea of racism, fascism (it doesn't matter if it is blunt or insidious racism), oppression and terror. One Israeli cabinet minister declared a few months ago that "we are already a fascist state."

When I was studying at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jewish circles, such as the Bnai Brith organization left no stone unturned, protesting a local Baptist minister who claimed that God didn't hear prayers of Jews since Jews didn't recognize Jesus as their personal lord and Savior. After an avalanche of protests, the priest apologized.

Today in Israel, there are prominent politicians and religious leaders who shamelessly claim that non-Jews are donkeys in human shape, whose lives have no sanctity and who are not entitled to human dignity. There are rabbis who issue fatwas or edicts allowing Jewish doctors to let non-Jews injured in a car accident on Saturday die of their wounds rather than give them medical treatment.

There are even rabbis who would permit Jews to murder non-Jews in order to harvest their organs if the Jews needed one.

Unfortunately, such scandalous abominations raise very few eyebrows in Israel. This happens at a time when Jewish leaders routinely, even innately, hurl the charges of hate and immorality at anyone and everyone who mentions Israeli criminality.

But so what? Israel and Jews have nothing to fear or worry about as long the US, its government, congress, and media, are in the Jewish pocket. The fact that the powerful and intimidating Jewish lobbies have succeeded in morphing most American politicians into absolutely docile political whores readily at Israel's beck and call.

Interestingly, this had a profound insolent effect on Israel. It was rumored a few years ago that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought to silence Shimon Peres, then foreign minister, telling him "don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We control the American people and the stupid Americans know it."

Besides, the ruling elite in Israel seems to have discovered that the more extremist and the more criminal and murderous Israel becomes, the more support and backing it receives from a disgracefully pliant Washington.

It is difficult to explain this strange phenomenon from the point of view the political sociology or political psychology. The only plausible explanation is that Jewish money and power have thoroughly corrupted American political culture so much that the U.S. is sinking down the drain, definitely though no dramatically.

I have no doubt that the Palestinian people will never be able to deliver themselves from the clutches of Zio-Nazism as long as America remains thoroughly enslaved, beguiled and manipulated by world Zionism.

Zionism might soon switch alliance to China the moment China's ascendancy to the helm of the world and America's demotion to the status of second or third-class global power is asserted.

In any case, the peace and stability of the world depends to a large extent on the world community's willingness and ability to check the cancerous growth and lebensraum of Zionism.

To be sure, Zionists will not raise the white flag upon the first clash with a determined world community that is serious about justice and peace; they are too powerful and too arrogant to do that.

However, a meaningful transformation in the willingness of the international community to check the Nazi-like Zionist hegemony and supremacy will definitely make Zionism think twice before pursuing it genocidal drive toward world domination.
I have no doubt that Israel will disappear one day. I don't know when that day will come, but I feel it will come sooner than many people think. Israel is based on evil and oppression. It carries the seeds of its own destruction.  

Is Imam Khamenei’s anti-nuclear fatwa, real or a white lie?

World powers have frequently accused Islamic Republic of Iran for making efforts to achieve nuclear weapons while Iranian officials have frequently stressed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programs before the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with nuclear scientists, announced ownership and use of nuclear weapons to be Haram (forbidden in Islamic law) calling that a big sin.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Head of the Research Center for Fiq’h Affairs in Iran’s Parliament stressed it as a duty for the Iranian nation to base their policies, views and efforts in line with purification of the world from Atomic weapons.

He said the fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader regarding ban on production and use of nuclear weapons is in fact based on three clear Fiq’h laws.

Islam, due to its logic, based on saving man and avoiding outbreak of war, opposes production of nuclear weapons.

Islam has logical and basic rules in opposition with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which catastrophically endangers the lives of masses of people or the environment.

Weapons of mass destruction lead the wars to an uncontrollable situation with huge numbers of victims and unimaginable range of destruction which might drag beyond one era of time and one generation of people.

World powers have frequently accused Islamic Republic of Iran for making efforts to achieve nuclear weapons while Iranian officials have frequently stressed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programs before the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with nuclear scientists, announced ownership and use of nuclear weapons to be Haram (forbidden in Islamic law) calling that a big sin.

His Excellency rejected the rationality that having nuclear weapon is a token of power and added, “Undoubtedly the decision making organizations in the countries opposing us fully know that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons and that Islamic Republic of Iran bans having nuclear weapons in ideological, theoretical and Fiq’h terms.

Islamic Republic of Iran intends to prove to the world that having nuclear weapons is not a sign of power or one’s determination is not dependent on having nuclear weapons; therefore, it is possible to beat a power which is based on nuclear weapons and Islamic Republic of Iran will do that.

An analysis of the fatwa by the Supreme Leader is the topic discussed with Hujjat-ol-Islam Ahmad Moballeghi, Head of the Research Center for Fiq’h Affairs in Iran’s Parliament.

Q: Fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, banning the use of nuclear weapons sent a wave across the world that could not be ignored even by the western media even though they tried to fade out the positive impacts of this religious statement. The fatwa in fact became the foundation for some diplomatic negotiations but the enemies to undermine the statement to be “subject to time and place limitation” or to be applicable “under special conditions” or even that it is “dissimulating”. Could you please explain in what conditions a Shia fatwa can be changed and is a change of fatwa applicable for a statement like the leadership fatwa banning the weapons of mass destruction (WMD)?

A: A fatwa implies a Sharia statement on a particular topic which is permanent. It is meaningless to say a fiq’h statement is temporary because if a scholar thinks again on an issued statement and comes to a result and issues a statement but in a new situation he ponders more paying more attention and therefore he comes to new results, then it does not mean that the statement changes but the scholar understands that the statement has been something else.

Sometimes the change in a fatwa is due to the new conditions of the special issue and that the issue has had a change of nature in a new social situation. In that case the scholar, regarding that the issue has had changes, issues a new fatwa though a second fatwa does not mean retrieving the first statement. Then the first statement is still credited for the first issue and the second fatwa for the second issue.

A third condition for the scholar to change his idea is Taqqiya (minor or benign falsehood in a matter of life and death) when the scholar issues the statement out of Taqqiya but in our era that is not valid any more.

We have to know that the statement that forbids weapons of mass destruction does not fit into any of the conditions above because firstly a ban on nuclear weapons is not a secondary title and it is not subject to any change in a course of time.

Secondly, a second ponder on an issue which might bring a change in the preliminary statement does not include a statement on nuclear weapons because the clarity in the ban on these weapons is so clearly proved that a second statement, as a result of secondary thoughts, cannot be imagined because a condition of corruption and danger is supposed to be the result of using these weapons anyway.

A ban on use of nuclear weapons has three clear Fiq’h principles, the first one being the principle of Vezr, meaning that the range of punishment should not include beyond those who deserve that and using weapons of mass destruction is an obvious violation of this principle in greater scales because it would indiscriminately damage a group of people.

The second law which we call it an attempt of corruption is a proof on the fact that following any path that might eventually end in corruption among people equals an attempt to spread corruption and is consequently banned.

The final principle on that is forbiddingness of using military weapons. It means when the disadvantages or execration of an act is greater that the advantages, then that act is banned.

Q: Using nuclear weapons has undeniable catastrophic outcomes. Then what if we are asked for only making and keeping nuclear weapons as a source of power for a show off against the enemy without using that for military ends? I mean why does the leadership fatwa bans using nuclear weapons as well as making and keeping them?

A: These are new types of weapons and there has been no similar weapon with the same range of destruction that it burns a nation leaving its trace not only on people but also on the nature. It is possible to control that now but it is not really guaranteed with the next generation and in another condition. What if it comes to the wrong hands?

On the other hand, producing nuclear weapons will possibly intensify a weaponry competition. Such issues are quite dangerous and have ever been banned in the guidelines of Muslim Imams (AS).

Now that human society is challenging such threats, it is our duty to keep our policies, views and efforts in line with purification of the international arena from Atomic Bombs. Intensifying a weaponry competition is dangerous for the whole world.

Q: One of the questions over the leadership fatwa banning nuclear weapons is if the statement is in fact Taqqiya (minor or benign falsehood in a matter of life and death). They say since Taqqiya is permitted in Shia Fiq’h, Islamic Republic of Iran has issued the statement, contrary to its real intention, only in a bid to defend itself against the enemies and it is possible that Iran violates the fatwa once it gains enough power.

A: Islam approves Taqqiya under some special conditions and has particular limitations. But the issue of weaponry competition is so clear that it is not subject to Taqqiya.

Hence the answer is that: A Taqqiya fatwa is acceptable when the issue, for which a fatwa is issued, is changeable, while the dangers of nuclear weapons will never change. This is a perfect and complete fatwa and not a Taqqiya fatwa. A Taqqiya fatwa is limited and can be changed but when a fatwa is issued in the international arena, the opposite cannot be proved to be right otherwise Shia fiq’h is questioned.

Q: In your view, what are the positive effects of maintaining international and political can the weaponry ban fatwa by Shia jurisprudents bring?

A: The fatwa by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, by itself reflects the humane, accurate and pure view behind fiq’h and we believe that our Islamic fiq’h is not distanced with rationality and temperament. On the contrary these two are transcended within our fiq’h.

At present when the countries and world powers are obsessed with winning a weaponry competition, an Islamic Iran loudly announces that it does not pursue nuclear weapons and that is very important. It will be heard, if it is spread more through the media.

Q: Some say that Muslims have to be in power and increase their strength every day. Does this notion, approved in verse 60 of Sura Al-Anfal (Hence, make ready against them whatever force and war mounts you are able to muster, so that you might deter thereby the enemies of God, who are your enemies as well), have any reference to nuclear weapons as a source of power?

A: Not at all because when Qur’an demands Muslims to be powerful it has no reference to nuclear weapons. This power is the kind that stirs others to achieve the same power and nuclear weapon is indiscriminately harmful both for friends and foes.

Nuclear weapon means a threat for humanity. Even other countries should not have achieved that and here we have to do our best to control that. I clearly deny that nuclear weapons are the source of power referred to in this verse.

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Hujjat-ol-Islam Ahmad Moballeghi, Head of the Research Center for Fiq’h Affairs in Iran’s Parliament