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July 21, 2016 Special Dispatch No. 6537

Articles In Syrian Government Press: The West, Which Supports Terror, Is Responsible For Nice Attack

July 21, 2016
Syria | Special Dispatch No. 6537

Following the July 14, 2016 terror attack in Nice, in which 84 people were killed, the Syrian government press published many articles that blamed Western leaders for the attack, since, according to the articles, these leaders support terror and fight the Assad regime that is confronting ISIS. The articles also claimed that, instead of fighting Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islam, which inspires terror, the West prefers to do business with Saudi Arabia. They added that this policy, if it continues, will only lead to further attacks on the West.

The following are excerpts from some of the articles:

 
Flowers in memory of Nice victims (image: Ajlazeera.net, July 15, 2016)

The West Should Heed Assad's Warnings

The daily Teshreen wrote in a July 17, 2016 editorial: "In his statements about the terror in Syria, President Assad has long been warning the West... of the danger of supporting terror and using it to achieve political goals. He warned that the repercussions of this could boomerang against the West [itself]. Particularly [noteworthy was the following] warning: 'I told Western leaders: do not toy with terror, because it will strike your own countries.' We must reiterate this statement of Assad's, because the West seems to be completely unaware of the magnitude of the danger posed by this terror that is now coming back to harm it. It continues to delude itself and is not aware of the implications of its actions and statements...

"Oh foolish Westerners... take heed of advice and warnings... otherwise you will [eventually] become [like] a cancerous cell that must be ripped out and wiped off the map. If you do not wake up and understand the meaning of fighting terror in Syria and cooperating with the government of Syria - the country you have chosen as an arena for your struggles - your ambitions will boomerang against you [and you will discover] scorpions in your pockets. So prepare yourselves well! The people of Europe - who are paying in blood and in their security and stability for the hypocrisy of their leaders and countries and for their misguided policy - must [stand up and] say that it is impossible to support terror in one place and fight it in another. All terror is one, and it knows no boundaries."[1]

Western Leaders Are To Blame For Nice Attack Because They Failed To Support Syrian Regime

Tahsin Halabi, a columnist in the Syrian pro-Assad daily Al-Watan, likewise claimed that the Western leaders are responsible both for the Nice attack and for all attacks that have been taking place in the Middle East in recent years, because they have failed to support the Syrian regime that is fighting ISIS in Syria. He wrote: "Whether we assume that the terrorist who carried out the attack in Nice, France did it of his own accord or did it under the banner of ISIS, [Jabhat] Al-Nusra or Al-Qaeda, there are facts and factors that clearly indicate who is responsible for this terror attack and for all the terror attacks that have been taking place for years in Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya and Algeria. The first who are to blame for this are those who spread the media deception... that presented the terror that has been raging in Syria since the first months of 2011 as 'heroism' and as a 'revolution,' while accusing the Syrian government and military of 'killing civilians and protestors'... Also [responsible] are all those who armed and funded the recruitment of militant groups, causing [these groups] to proliferate [until they numbered] over 300 in Syria alone... Hence, the primary party responsible for all the terror that is striking France is the Western leaders who failed to support the one who is fighting ISIS [i.e., the Syrian regime] but instead took a stand against all those fighting ISIS in Syria..."[2]  

Instead Of Fighting Saudi Arabia, Which Is Source Of Terror, West Is Doing Business With It

Dib 'Ali Hassan, a columnist for the  government daily Al-Thawra, wrote that the Nice attack would not be the last act to terror against the West, since the West is busy doing business with Saudi Arabia instead of uprooting the Saudi ideology that inspires terrorism and drying up terror's sources of funding. He wrote: "What happened in France the day before yesterday... did not take place in a vacuum and will certainly not be the last [act of terror] in the West. The root of terror that germinated and grew - and we all know in what soil [it germinated and grew] - will remain strong and capable of acting wherever it wants in the West because it [constantly] changes its methods and means. It will remain [strong] as long as the West is preoccupied with doing business with the Aal Sa'ud [royal] family and its wealth and with the kingdoms of sand [i.e., the Gulf states], and as long as neither the West nor the U.S. lifts a finger to remove the primary root of terror and the soil that produced ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra, as well as the rotten, intolerant Salafist ideology...

"Terror cannot be fought with decisions or by [placing] ink upon paper, but only through military action that nobody is undertaking at the moment except the Syrian army and its allies. I am talking about serious action to rip out the Wahhabi roots [of terror] and drying up its sources. The [location of the source of terror] is clear and known, and it is not far away [from Syria]. Moreover... nobody can claim that the war on terror will yield results without addressing the [terrorist] ideology and fighting its primary [source]. This is an international decision for which the West is primarily responsible. Threats and warnings by [French President] Hollande will not suffice as long as he lies in the lap of the funders of terror and engages in arms deals with them..."[3]

 

Endnotes:

 

[1] Teshreen (Syria), July 17, 2016.

[2] Al-Watan (Syria), July 17, 2016.

[3] Al-Thawra (Syria), July 17, 2016.

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