DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuters) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday (February 20) he was ready for a ceasefire on the condition the “terrorists” did not use it to their advantage, and said he wanted refugees to return to the country.
Since the beginning of the civil war five years ago, more than 4.3 million have fled Syria and at least 250,000 people have died.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Assad said that every Syrian citizen would be welcomed back to the country and there would be no reprisals for civilians returning home.
“No, of course they can come, I mean, this is their right to come back, unless somebody who is a terrorist or a killer. And some of them, and I think a good number of them, is a government supporter who didn’t leave because he’s afraid from the government. As I said, because of the standard of living that has been deteriorated drastically during the last few years. So, of course they can come back without any action taken from the government against them. We want people to come back to Syria,” he told El Pais managing editor, David Alandete.
The image of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi lying face down on a Turkish beach last September appeared around the world and prompted a wave of sympathy for the plight of refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
Assad said his government had to deal with terrorism and international sanctions to stop the stream of refugees fleeing Syria.
“This is one of the saddest parts of the Syrian conflict, to have people leaving their country for different reasons. But beside the feeling, the question for us as officials that has been asked by the Syrian people: what are we going to do? What action is being taken either to allow those refugees to come back to their country or not to leave at all? You have two reasons here. The first one that we have to deal with, of course, is the terrorism, because those terrorists not only threaten people, but deprive the people from their basic needs of their lives. The second reason is the embargo that’s been implemented on Syria by the West, mainly the West and the United States of course, that caused more difficulties for the people to live here, especially in the health sector. So, we need to deal with those reasons in order to prevent this tragedy from being dragged on for a long time,” Assad said, adding that many people support his government but flee from terrorism.
The Syrian president also said he was ready for a ceasefire, on condition that the “terrorists” did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents halted support for them.
His comments were made as the Syrian opposition said it had agreed to the “possibility” of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees that Damascus’s allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.
Assad also said any truce must ensure that other countries, especially Turkey, are prevented from sending more “terrorists” and weapons into Syria, or any kind of logistical support.
Damascus refers to all insurgents fighting against the Syrian army and its allies as “terrorists”.
Turkey, other Sunni regional powers and Western countries have supported insurgents fighting against Assad, whose forces are bolstered by Iran, Russia and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Attempts to negotiate a truce in recent months have failed. The latest round of talks at the United Nations in Geneva is being jointly chaired by Russia and the United States.
World powers agreed in Munich on Feb. 12 to a cessation of hostilities that would let humanitarian aid be delivered in Syria.
The ceasefire was scheduled to start a week later, but did not take effect. Syrian army offensives continue unabated across the country, backed by Russian air strikes.
Assad said last week he would keep “fighting terrorism” while peace talks took place, vowing to retake the whole country.
He told El Pais his troops were now close to fully controlling the northern city of Aleppo and were advancing towards the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province.
Once he has control of the country, Assad said in the interview, the next step would be to form a national unity government that would lay the groundwork for a new constitution and general elections.
