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| Independence
is a right for all peoples, including the Arabs: Al-Assad
|
DAMASCUS,
July 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies ) - Syrian President Bashar
Al-Assad, in a message addressed Wednesday, July 3, to U.S. President
George W. Bush on the occasion of U.S. Independence Day, stressed the
right to “resist occupation.”
“Independence
is a right for all peoples, including the Arabs, who have the right to
resist occupation to attain freedom,” Assad said, quoted by the
official agency SANA.
He
added he hoped to see Washington’s position “evolve towards the
achievement of a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
He
also expressed his “best wishes and congratulations to President
Bush and the American people” as they celebrate Independence Day on
July 4, SANA also reported.
In
his Middle East speech on June 24, Bush said Syria “must choose the
right side in the war on terror by closing terrorist camps and
expelling terrorist organizations.”
Washington
has also sent diplomatic messages to Syria urging it to use its
influence on the Islamic resistance movement Hezbollah to curb its
military operations against Israel in a Lebanese area on the south of
Lebanon occupied by Israel.
However
in an interview published Monday, July 1, Assad shrugged off the U.S.
demands.
“Syria
supports the [Palestinian] resistance and gives political backing to
Hezbollah, as the latter has no need for military aid,” Assad told
the Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Liwa.
He
also said Palestinian bombers were the result of “despair” caused
by “Israel’s barbaric practices against an unarmed people.”
Several
Palestinian groups maintain offices in Damascus. Two of them, the
Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine, are
headquartered there.
Syria,
as well as Lebanon, have parts of their land occupied by the Israelis
since 1967 war and regardless of the U.N. resolutions requiring Israel
withdrawal from these lands, Israel did not comply.
Hezbollah
was able to force Israel out of the Lebanese south in May 2000, except
for the Sheb’a farms that are still under occupation.
