SYRIA: Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi says all peace initiatives will fail if there is international support arming and training opposition groups.

Record ID: 281284

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi says all peace initiatives will fail if there is international support arming and training opposition groups.
  • Date: 3rd September 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (SEPTEMBER 3, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN INFORMATION MINISTER, OMRAN ZOABI ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE HALL A BANNER THAT READS IN ARABIC "INFORMATION MINISTRY" ZOABI TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN INFORMATION MINISTER, OMRAN ZOABI SAYING: "Nobody should worry. Our situation in Syria is very good on the level of leadership, government, institution
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3LX7TGWHWVPKELPHYFJLM0K4E
  • Story Text: Syria's Information Minister, Omran Zoabi said on Monday (September 3), the situation in the country was under control but warned peace initiatives would fail if armed opposition groups received international funding.
    "Nobody should worry. Our situation in Syria is very good on the level of leadership, government, institutions and army. Everything is under control and nothing will be different. Their kind of terrorist acts ensures what I am talking about," Zoabi told journalist in Damascus.
    "What is needed is for the weapons, money and training to stop. Any initiative or effort will not succeed if some countries continue to adopt this position," he added.
    Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called collective punishment of Sunni Muslim areas hostile to President Bashar al-Assad.
    In northern Syria, 18 bodies were found in the rubble of a house bombed by a Syrian warplane in the rebel-held town of al-Bab and 13 more are missing, an opposition watchdog group said.
    Bulldozers backed by combat troops demolished buildings in the poor Tawahin district, near the Damascus-Beirut highway, activists and residents said.
    Syrian authorities restrict independent media access, making it hard to verify accounts of the conflict from both sides.
    Activists also reported the razing or burning of at least 200 houses and shops in the old part of the southern city of Deraa in the last few days. Army shelling had largely emptied the area, prompting 40,000 people to flee to Jordan.
    The army, which appears to have regained control of Damascus proper after an insurgent offensive that began in July, shelled outlying southern and eastern districts overnight to try to drive out rebels still operating there, opposition groups said.
    Zoabi said all Syrians who fled into neighbouring countries to escape the violence, were free to return whenever they wanted.
    "Those who think they may get arrested or anything else. I ensure you that there is nothing that prevents any Syrian to return to Syria. Not the fear of anything," he said.
    More than 20,000 people have been killed in Syria since initially peaceful protests against Assad erupted in March 2011.
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