Assad says Syria able to confront foreign aggression

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday that his country is capable of confronting any external aggression, in reference to a possible U.S.-led strike against his country.

Assad made the remarks during his meeting with visiting Chairman of the Iranian Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who arrived in Syria on Saturday.

“Syria is capable of confronting any foreign aggression as it confronts the daily attacks by the terrorist groups and those who stand behind them,” Assad said, Syrian media reported.

The remarks came amid the U.S. threats to carry out a military operation against Syria, over an alleged use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people in the countryside of Damascus last week.

A day earlier, Boroujerdi told reporters that his visit aims to emphasize his country’s support to Syria and Tehran’s rejection of any war or aggression against it.

He also warned that any war against Syria would have repercussions on the entire region.

Iran, one of the main regional allies of the Damascus government, rejected any foreign military intervention in Syria and warned of dire consequences of such an aggression.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday that he has decided to take military action against Syria but will first seek authorization from Congress.

“After careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets,” the president said in a statement made at the White House Rose Garden.

“This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground,” he said, echoing a refrain repeated by his administration in the past days. “Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope.”

In a dramatic turnaround, the president said he would first seek authorization from Congress, as demanded by some lawmakers, before acting to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons in an attack in the suburbs of Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Aug. 21.

“I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress,” he declared.

“We should have this debate,” he said, with Vice President Joseph Biden standing at his side. “I respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that I was elected in part to end.”

“The issue is too big for business as usual,” he added.

Congressional leaders have agreed to debate and vote on the administration’s action plan, as U.S. lawmakers will return to session on Sept. 9 after a summer break.

The United States has five cruise-missile equipped destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea, and press reports said U.S. military action will involve sea-launched cruise missiles or possibly long- range bombers.

In its efforts to build up the case, the White House on Friday released an unclassified U.S. intelligence report, which concluded with “high confidence” that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons multiple times in the last year, and that the gas attack on Aug. 21 left at least 1,429 Syrians dead, among them 426 children.

Obama set a red line over the chemical weapons use a year ago, and he and his administration officials have vowed to hold accountable the Syrian government headed by President Bashar al- Assad in the past days.

“This attack is an assault on human dignity. It also presents a serious danger to our national security,” Obama said in his Rose Garden statement. “It endangers our friends and our partners along Syria’s borders. including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.”

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Sep 1 2013. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.