Assad puts blame on West for refugee crisis

BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed Europe’s refugee crisis on Western support for “terrorists”, as people fleeing his country’s civil war stream towards the EU.

In his first public comments on the mass migration, broadcast yesterday, Assad said Europe could expect more refugees.

Countries including the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia want to see Assad gone from power and have supported the opposition to his rule during the four-year-old war, including some of the armed groups fighting him.

Assad said Turkish support had been crucial to the growth of two of the biggest insurgent groups in Syria, the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and aerial bombing by a US-led coalition had failed to stop the IS. Turkey denies the accusation. The Syrian president dismissed Western suggestions that his government’s actions in the war had fuelled the spread of such groups.

“As long as they follow this propaganda, they will have more refugees,” Assad said.

“If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists.” The Syrian government describes all the armed groups fighting it as terrorists. The insurgents in Syria range from the IS to nationalists viewed as moderate by the West. Assad has been buoyed in recent weeks by signs of increased military support from his ally Russia.

Assad played down proposals for a peace initiative that his ally Iran has said it presented to Syrian officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Russia next week for talks with President Vladimir Putin on the expanding Russian military presence in Syria, an Israeli official said yesterday.

“The prime minister will present the threats to Israel emanating from the increased flow of advanced weaponry to the Syrian arena and from the transfer of lethal weaponry to Hezbollah and other groups.” – Reuters