DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) Syrian President Bashar Assad has said that it was the decades-long forbearance by the Syrian government of terrorism and extremism that had eventually brought about war in the middle Eastern country.
"Speaking of mistakes ... of course, there were many mistakes," Assad said in an interview with the Italian agency Rai News, as cited by the SANA news agency of Syria, when asked to elaborate on what he would do differently in his policies.
Nine years into the conflict and the Syrian government continues committing the same mistakes as before, Assad continued. According to the Syrian president, there were two major reasons leading to the devastating war, the first one being forbearance of extremism, especially the Wahabi ideology.
"If you want to talk about mistakes in dealing with this issue, then yes I would say that we were too tolerant with something very dangerous. This was a big mistake that we have been committing for decades - I am speaking about different governments, including myself before war," Assad said.
The second reason, as outlined by the Syrian leader, was that police left unattended too many outlaws ready to revolt against the public order, including by seeking assistance from abroad.
"For these outlaws, the government is a natural enemy because they do not want to get into prison," Assad said.
The interview was delayed from publication in Italy repeatedly, which the Syrian government believes is due to internal management conflicts of the Italian agency.
The armed conflict between the Syrian government and opposition groups, including terrorists, began in 2011. By 2016, terrorist forces were significantly subdued, while the government and opposition concluded a ceasefire, with Russia, Iran and Turkey acting as its guarantors.
