Syria’s authorities not planning talks with armed opposition

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. The Syrian government will not consider a group of armed people that opens fire at civilians as opposition and plans to hold no talks with them, Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad has said. "The term "opposition" is one, and "terror" is another thing," Haddad said in an interview with the Russian News Service. "Of course, we have national opposition that is not holding weapons in hands and is not killing soldiers." "The opposition as a term is a sound entity in any society and we respect it and hold talks with it permanently," the ambassador said. He stressed that the government will have to protect its citizens from "those who hold weapons in their hands and shoot civilians, forcing people to leave their homes and sow fear among civilians." "Any persons can be considered as opposition members only when they do not have weapons in their hands. We do not fight with them," the diplomat added. The authorities of Western countries lie when saying that the Syrian army is fighting against the so-called moderate opposition, he said. "In fact, this is lie and false information as those who are holding arms in their hands cannot be called moderate opposition." Read more