Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, at a joint press conference Thursday with Iran's President Mahomoud Ahmadinejad, said that the outcome during the past stage was in favour of the resistance forces in the region.
Al-Assad added that "on the other hand, there was the failure of the forces that stood in the opposite trench. With each juncture and occasion we can see these forces moving form a failure to another. We hope that the day will come when a religious celebration is held simultaneously with their big failure....such a day will undoubtedly come."
The Syrian leader added ''We are meeting today to communicate and hold dialogue on various issues and thorny and complicated topics in this region…such a meeting not only comes in the course of years-long regular and routine meetings between the two countries, but it also coincides with this noble occasion adding special meanings…This is a blessed occasion to which we sought to add the bless of work and communication.''
''We wanted this festive day to be one of accomplishment, so we signed an agreement on annulling entry visas between Syria and Iran…This agreement would result in more communication and enhancing of the common interests of the Syrian and Iranian peoples,'' al-Assad was quoted as saying by SANA.
The Syrian president added that the ''bilateral relations cannot remain confined to the political domain for decades. Economically speaking, this relation cannot be restricted to projects and big companies, given that the real relationship between two countries and peoples starts from the individual, from the base upwards to the summit and not vice-versa.''
He continued to say, ''I believe this agreement will push relations along this direction, and will further enhance the relations at all levels and in all sectors with no exception."
"We have no choice other than being together through enhancing communication, strengthening relations and expanding the network of interests between our countries…This is the only way if we actually and practically want to get what we call the independent decision which turns us from importers into makers of the future," al-Assad told the news conference.
For his part, the Iranian president said that the new Middle East is in a phase of evolution. Ahmadinejad added that developments in the world will be in favor of Iran and Syria. He called upon Israel not to repeat past mistakes, adding that this will lead to its inevitable end because peoples of the region will stand up against it.
Answering a question on the latest Israeli threats, al-Assad said, ''These threats did not come as an isolated case and should not be viewed as such, but we have to consider them in the context of the Israeli history that is based on treachery, aggression, occupation, expansion and hegemony,'' He added, ''At the same time, it is an error to assess this case through statements or probabilities…The statements do not mean that Israel will launch an aggression, nor does the absence of statements mean that Israel will not do so.''
He went on to say, ''We primarily suppose that there is an entity that may launch an aggression at any time, in view of its aggressive history that was built on aggression…Regardless of these statements, we are always preparing ourselves for an Israeli aggression whether it is small or big scale,''
''If we want to examine these statements, they may imply a message to Syria and another to the resistance to push it towards submission,''
President al-Assad continued, ''They may also carry a message to the Israelis intended to lift their morale after a series of setbacks and defeats that befell Israel, so our reaction will not be based on statements but it is based on our view of Israel. It is natural that we have to be prepared at any time and moment for any Israeli aggression that may occur under any pretext or reason'', al Assad said.
He stated ''The so-called new Middle East and the proposed projects to partition the region will not start from maps and borders, but from minds and hearts …When these maps become ripe in our hearts and minds, they will project them on the ground,''
And al-Assad conveyed"I listened to my brother Ahmadinejad about his country's stance on the Iranian nuclear file, and based upon what I have heard from the Western officials during the last months and weeks, I undoubtedly think that what is going on is an act of new colonization in the region and hegemony through preventing a sovereign, UN member country who seek to possess peaceful nuclear energy from the right of enrichment in spite of the noticeable Iranian flexibility shown during the last two months."
"But the issue is plotted in advance… the Islamic countries are prohibited to possess that technology or any technologies which mean that we have no right to gain knowledge," the President added.
President al-Assad said that what will be applied on Iran will be later applied on the other countries… so our stance in Syria is based on our understanding of this issue and principles… and I think that our interest as a country, like other countries, to seek the possession of peaceful energy one day in the future.
In reply to a question on the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's latest statements calling upon Syria to steer away from Iran, President al-Assad said, ''We are meeting today to sign a separation agreement between Syria and Iran, but things went wrong probably because of translation or lack of understanding, so we signed an agreement to cancel entry visas…I do not know whether the two things get along.''
He continued, ''I wonder how they talk about stability in the Middle East and all other attractive principles while at the same time calling for the separation of two countries…Here I am not talking about Syria and Iran regardless of the strategic relations between the two countries and faith in the mutual principles.''
