Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first public comments on Israel’s Wednesday attack on his nation today, claiming they were part of a coordinated effort with “foreign” rebel factions aimed at destabilizing his regime.
The comments came in the wake of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak essentially confirming the attack, saying it was “proof when we said something we mean it,” and predicted the imminent fall of the Assad government.
Of course the claim of rebel ties is highly unlikely, as the foreign-backed rebels are mostly Sunni Islamist factions that have accused Assad of being pro-Israel. Still, it fuels Assad’s narrative and will likely find some currency among civilians sick of the fighting.
It has also sparked a chorus of condemnations of Israel from Russia, Iran, and even Turkey, which has openly backed regime change in Syria but is still not keen on the Israeli attack.
Turkey’s condemnation has been particularly harsh, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today saying that Israel was behaving like a “spoiled child” and that the US-endorsed attack violated international law.
So far the US is the only nation backing Israel’s attack, and that backing has Israel talking full-scale invasion. Britain has refused to condemn the attack, but stopped short of a public endorsement.
It seams that Turkish government begging to realize who is who and changing their blame game toward the right country and government.., perhaps they also should telling that Danish Ratt Mussen the same thing.., you can shove your EU membership where it belongs and take your missiles and shove it too.
The head of the NATO Ratt Mussen is the member of the european Neo fascism club so as the German government the Swedish and Cameron of England as well.., these liberals fascism are the reason for all the austerity in Europe and wars that they have created in Middle East.
BUT OF COURSE THEY ARE ALL 'TURIST' NATIONS..GOD BLESS AMERIKA
The Turks are amazing. They lead the NATO/GCC aggression against Syria while at the same time condemning foreign aggression against Syria. That is Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld level hypocrisy.
The "islamists" are acting innocent now. And who has armed them, paid them and supported them politically? "Assad" has become a trade mark, a hunted animal on a Western media cave walls, with all the arrows of propaganda aimed at the mythical "it"? Islamists are the incompetents that could not do the job. They are now BLUSHING at the thought that they are in the same corner as Israel? .
Turkey will play its options — meaning every side of any fence. Because Turkey has bigger goal in mind. Its trade with Russia, Central Asia, Iran and China are its bread and butter. Turkey's application for joining Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has been approved in June 2012.
Why dooes Mr. Ditz continue to put "foreign" in quotations regarding the rebels in Syria? it 's obvious and pretty commonly known by now that the rebel factions doing a bulk of the fighiting are indeed foreign. There's nothing trivial about this, so please drop the quotations.
Also Assad's Syria opponent spoke out.
Hurriyet, Jan 31:
Syria's main opposition chief on Thursday condemned President Bashar al-Assad's regime for its failure to take action against an Israeli air strike a day earlier. "Shame on you, O regime of Bashar al-Assad, that the Israeli warplanes have come and your jets are only focused on destroying mosques and universities, and to kill civilians," Syrian National Coalition chief Moaz al-Khatib said.
"Your planes are watching and they do not stop the Israeli jets," he told Al-Jazeera television.