If US Attacks Us, We Won't Stay Quiet: Syria

New Delhi, Sept 8, IRNA -- Syria Saturday said it will defend itself in case of a possible attack by the US and termed the developments as American conspiracy to topple the current regime. Syrian Ambassador to India Riad Kamel Abbas also challenged the US to come out with evidence on use of chemical weapons saying Washington was doing the same thing it did in Iraq. He said the developments in Syria were not aimed at democracy or reforms but were part of a big conspiracy by the US to topple the Assad regime or change its policy in the Middle East. If the US attacks Syria, we will not stay quiet. We are not in favour of American policy. We will fight and protect our people and will not surrender our country, Abbas said on the sidelines of an event, pti reported. On being asked how it was preparing itself in case of a possible attack, Abbas said information was being shared with friends. We have a strong army to defend ourselves and we have active missions who explain what the situation is. This is a conspiracy of the US and they want to control our natural resources. The only thing US wants from Middle East is oil and the security of Israel. Asking the international community to come and see if there were any chemical weapons in Syria, Abbas said everything was based on a weak lie propagated by the US. I challenge the US to show us evidence about this issue. We have our evidence. The US has not showed any evidence and this is a weak lie coming from them. It is the same lie which US used against Iraq and after 10 years, they said that it was a wrong story. We ask the international community to come and investigate chemical weapons in our country, said Abbas. Abbas said six months ago the Syrian government had asked the UN to send an international committee to investigate the issue of chemical weapons on ground. He stressed that Syria did not and will not use chemical weapons against its people. If you see people who were killed by the chemical weapons, most of them were pro-government and soldiers and children. We are fighting cross border terrorism and big media propaganda. Mercenaries get support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar and they fight our government and kill our civilians, he said. Appreciating India's stand on the crisis, the Ambassador said that they were in contact with our friends (India). They (India) know everything what is going on the ground. India has active embassy in Syria and we appreciate the Indian Prime Ministers statement in G-20. That is what we need. We need the justice, he said./end