Leader of Syrian Brotherhood Ali Al-Bayanouni: Bashar Al-Assad Tries to Sow the Seeds of Civil Strife in Lebanon

Following are excerpts from an interview with Ali Al-Bayanouni, leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which aired on Future TV on August 30, 2006.

Ali Al-Bayanouni: Is it conceivable - after the Lebanese people achieved this victory through its steadfastness and national unity - that Bashar Al-Assad attacks the Lebanese people and the March 14 forces, as well as the Arab rulers, with words inappropriate for the president of a state? This is also a speech of incitement. Not only did he try to take credit for this victory, but he also tried to sow the seeds of civil strife among the Lebanese, and to incite them against one another, just as he did in the past.

[...]

In the Golan, nothing is being done, of course. Even a bird is not allowed to fly across the Syrian border on the Golan front. Any resistance or support for the resistance in the Golan is prevented. While Syrian air space has been violated more than once - in Ein Al-Sahb, and even when [Israeli] planes flew over the presidential palace - we are still waiting "to determine the time, place, and date of the battle."

Interviewer: So should an Israeli-Syrian war be ignited?

Ali Al-Bayanouni: In my opinion, just like the Lebanese people and the Lebanese resistance are required to complete the liberation of their lands, the Syrians should be required to devise a plan to liberate the occupied lands. The Golan is larger and more important than the Shaba' [Farms]. Of course, we should strive to liberate every inch of occupied land, but the Golan has great importance. How come the Syrian regime, to this day, has not considered devising a national plan for the liberation of the Golan?

[...]

Bashar Al-Assad says that he is acting according to the people's will. Where is the people in Syria? Does someone who really believes in resistance restrain his people with iron and fire? Is the deprivation of people's liberties and the violation of their dignity and human rights appropriate in a country that wants to carry out resistance? The Syrian people is in chains, sir. The Syrian people cannot liberate its land, and cannot defend its land because it is in chains. A slave cannot defend himself. He must first regain his liberty.