Syria responded furiously to remarks from Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal that President Bashar al-Assad should not take part in the proposed peace talks aimed at ending the crisis in the country.
Faisal made the comments Saturday as Syria said it had agreed to take part in the proposed peace talks, scheduled for next month.
“It is impossible for Assad, his regime and its affiliates to play a role in the future of Syria,” the Saudi minister told reporters in Jeddah.
An official media source said certain countries and regimes had Syrian blood on their hands as a result of the current aggression against Syria, and that Faisal is ill-qualified to talk about Syria and Syrians.
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, which quoted an unnamed media source, said that the Saudi Foreign Minister has no right – at either a personal or official level – to lecture Syria on nationalism, Arabism or Islam, "because he lacks any of these spiritual values in the first place."
The source said that Syrians alone have the right to determine Syria's fate, to form the government and its administration, adding that "those who have no color, taste or smell will be judged by history as gamblers, conspirators and hirelings."
The source said it was a disgrace that Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani dictates to the Saudi Foreign Minister on the policies and positions of Saudi Arabia.
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