Syria’s Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi has called to carry out the “program” suggested by President Assad in his latest speech.
President Bashar al-Assad on Monday issued Legislative Decree No. 2 for 2013, stipulating for establishing of social care centers by a decision from the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor in coordination with the Local Administration Minister.
Bashar before anyone else realizes that his dictatorial regime encompasses all the reasons for its own downfall, from the bloodthirsty and brutal acts, the assassinations, torture, sectarianism and corruption, and the looting of the country’s wealth.
President Assad spoke Sunday, amid rapturous chanting from loyalists that they are with him with “all their blood and soul.” His speech was met by a roar of protest and mocking from Syrian citizens and opposition groups, as well as the international community. This was his first public speech in six months.The opposition says he lives in isolation and does not know what is going around him.
The speech by Bashar Assad confirms his incompetence as a head of state who realizes the grave responsibilities he carries during this critical time in Syria’s history. Furthermore, it demonstrates that he is incapable of initiating a political solution that puts forward a resolution for the country’s struggle and an exit for his regime with minimum losses because he cannot see himself and his narrow based rule except as remaining in power despite being rejected by his people and his traditional allies.
The stages of the political solution that the president presented in his speech are not enough to form a political solution that transforms the country form its current state of autocracy and crisis to stability and democracy. Despite this, what he presented can form a general basis for an eventual solution, but only if it is not overseen and sponsored by the regime itself. Instead, the regime would take part in the solution as one party to the conflict alongside all other groups.
President Bashar al-Assad gave a speech on Saturday that created a lot of reactions by local and international actors. Below is the text of the speech as translated by the Syrian official news agency (SANA).
The President of the Syrian National Coalition, the major opposition umbrella, called on the international community to hold international responsibility, both politically and ethically, to come to the Syrian people rescue.
The brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri has been arrested, it was revealed last night. Mohammed Zawahiri, 59, was seized by Syrian troops as he prepared to meet up with rebels in Darya, outside Damascus.
Australians who take part in the fighting in Syria face up to 20 years in jail, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Friday after a Melbourne man was reportedly killed in the conflict, Australian media reported Saturday. The spokesman said the government was aware of reports that more than 100 Australians had engaged in the conflict since 2011 but he had “no evidence” of any citizens currently involved.
The Syrian League for Citizenship (SLC) was founded to promote the principle of citizenship and equal rights and duties to all the Syrian citizens. It works through workshops, seminars, lectures, and the media to convey its key messages.
A Syrian regime media defector, who previously worked at the pro-Assad al-Dunya TV, informed Asharq Al-Awsat how the al-Assad regime fabricates news, misleads the public and distorts the reputation of the Syrian revolution on Syrian state television. The Syrian source, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, also leaked several clips taken from the archive of pro-Assad media that reveals just precisely how the Damascus regime is running its propaganda operations.
Syria labels the International Commission of Inquiry report as “unprofessional and biased,” and says the information were provided to the commission by one side without verifying their validity and in a way that lacks professionalism and neutrality,”
While media reports talk about a new round of talks between the Russians and the Americans over Syria, a senior member of the opposition says that “Bashar’s departure is the essential demand of the Syrian revolution,” indicating an Egyptian role in marketing a Russian plan.
There are wise people in the regime whose hands have not been stained with blood, can be talked to, but Assad’s stepping aside is a must, President of the National Coalition of the Syrian Opposition Revolution Forces Ahmad Muaz al-Khatib said Thursday.
Maan (Together) Movement, a civil society group, called for the release of all political prisoners from the Syrian prisons and detention centers, and focuses on recent campaigns waged by the government to arrest activists from the Syrian Communist Action Party.
The National Current to Salvage Syria said in a statement issued at the conclusion of its founding conference on Thursday in Beirut that the coalition called for exposing the flagrant human rights violations by extremist groups in Syria and divulging the connection between the Doha Coalition and the terrorist al-Qaeda-linked groups, pointing to incontestable documents in this regard.
General Ali Mamlouk is one of the most powerful Syrian security officers and a high ranking aide to President Bashar al Assad. He is the director of the Baath Party National Security Bureau, but his reputation came from his position as the head of the General directorate of Intelligence, one of the four most powerful security agencies in Syria.
President receives cables on the occasions of Christmas and New Year from President of Russia, President of Belarus, President of Lebanon and President of The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
American journalist James Foley was abducted towards the end of last November while reporting to AFP on the conflict between Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the rebels in Syria.
