Syria FM: US Is Major Player in Civil War

Says US Needs to Stop Supporting Terrorism

Speaking in an interview today with The Independent, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said his government believes that the United States is the driving force in the rebel side of the ongoing Syrian civil war, and that he believes that other nations backing the rebels are just America’s “instruments”

“I tell the Americans: ‘You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don’t understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria’,” insisted Muallem.

Muallem’s interview was by telephone, and was regularly interrupted by the sound of fighting in the capital of Damascus. He said he was saddened by the ongoing fighting, and that he considers himself a Syrian first and a government minister second.

Though the US has been pushing for international intervention in Syria to install the rebels as the new government, they have largely tried to take a back seat publicly, letting nations like France lead the way on the resolutions.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.