Bashar al-Assad
You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind.Collection: Society
We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience.Collection: Experience
Is there an equality of power between America and Iraq? Definitely not; however, the Iraqi people are standing fast and are defending their land courageously.Collection: Equality
None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel.Collection: Trust
We believe that Lebanon has been the first real experience for all the Arabs.Collection: Experience
When we analyze this war in a materialistic way and ask when is it going to end and who will be the winner and the loser, it means that we do not see the endgame.Collection: War
Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.Collection: Fear
I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.
We have more difficult circumstances than most of the Arab countries but in spite of that Syria is stable. Why? Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue.
The Israeli lobby has clout in the U.S., which means that re-arranging the region and controlling its resources one way or another, will serve Israel through its control over the American administration.
I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country.
But the issue has to do with land, which is our land.
It should be known that Israel is based on treachery.
Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East.
When our interests matched, the Americans have been good to us, and when the interests differed, they wanted us to mold ourselves to them, which we refused.
The problem with the West is that they start with political reform going towards democracy. If you want to go towards democracy, the first thing is to involve the people in decision making, not to make it.
The problem is not the occupation, but how people deal with it.
As far as we are concerned, we Syria have not changed.
It is natural that we should always expect an Israeli attack, even when it does not threaten.
Armies are not only for offensives.
Today, the Iraqi citizen sees that America is coming and wants to occupy his country and kill him, and he is willing to experience for himself what happened in Palestine.
Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.
Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.
America is interested in re-arranging the region as it sees fit.
When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country.
It is even more so when it comes to Iraq, which is a large Arab country with scientific, material, and human resources and is able to accomplish, at the least, what Lebanon accomplished, and more.
No doubt that the U.S. is a super-power capable of conquering a relatively small country, but is it able to control it?
The U.S. and Britain are incapable of controlling all of Iraq.
The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.
Lebanon was under Israeli occupation, up to its capital, but we did not consider that a disaster. Why? Because it was very clear that there are ways to resist.
The most significant indicator that there is no disaster in Iraq is the fact that there is no exodus.
You in Lebanon, your power is no match to Israel. Israel, militarily, is more powerful than you and maybe it is more powerful than all the Arab countries, or most of them.
It would be a mistake to link anything that Israel does to a certain circumstance. And it is a mistake to feel comfortable in any circumstance just because Israel did not act on it.
We are dealing with treachery and threats, which accompanied the establishment of Israel.
Since its very inception, Israel has been a threat.
Israel does not care about the international public opinion.
Israel ranks her priorities in the following way: security, land, and water.
Hizbullah is not a militia.
As soon as the legitimate Lebanese government is convinced that the conditions have ripened and that Lebanon is able to maintain stability on its own... Then, the Syrian forces will return to their homeland.
No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person.Collection: Crazy
The captain doesn't think about death, or life, he thinks about saving his ship.Collection: Thinking
Whenever you have a war, the civilians and the innocents will pay the price. That's in any war, any war is a bad war.Collection: War
It's very simple ; once the Western countries stop supporting those terrorists and making pressure on their puppet countries and client states like Saudi Arabia and Turkey and others, you'll have no problem in Syria. It will be solved easily.Collection: Country
[The Jews] tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.Collection: Jesus
[Barack] Obama can draw lines for himself and his country, not for other countries. We have our red lines, like our sovereignty, our independence, while if you want to talk about world red lines, the United States used depleted uranium in Iraq, Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza, and nobody said anything. What about the red lines ? We don't see red lines. It's political red lines.Collection: Country
Foreigners cannot bring freedom, cannot bring democracy, because this is related to the culture, to the different factors that affect or influence that society. You cannot bring it, you cannot import it.Collection: Democracy
Do you call the people in Los Angeles in the nineties - do you call them rebels or opposition ? They are rebels. They are not rebels even, they are beheading. This opposition, opposing country or government, by beheading ? By barbecuing heads ? By eating the hearts of your victim ? Is that opposition ? What do you call the people who attacked the two towers on the 11th of September ? Opposition ? Even if they're not Americans, I know this, but some of them I think have nationality - I think one of them has American nationality. Do you call him opposition or terrorist ?Collection: Country
There is no such things as "Islamic terrorism," because terrorism differs from Islam. There's just terrorism, not Islamic terrorism. But the term "Islamic terrorism" has become widespread.Collection: Islamic
You can forge anything these days, and we're living in a fake news era.Collection: Fake
In Great Britain, an author published a book in which he claimed that Jesus Christ had children. Such statements don't trigger civil unrest and bloodshed in Europe. But write similar statements about Islam in Syria and you might see bloody uprisings.Collection: Jesus