Syrian ambassador calls for joint fight against terrorism
ST. PETERSBURG. November 20 (Interfax) - Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad has called on world leaders to pool their efforts in fighting international terrorism.
"These people will stop at neither Red Square in Moscow, nor the Eiffel Tower in Paris, nor the Statue of Liberty in New York, etc. No matter what, efforts must be pooled so that the world does not wake up to news similar to the Russian plane crash every day," Haddad said at a conference in St. Petersburg on Friday.
The Syrian government began fighting militants in its territory several years ago, he said.
"My Syria realized this at the very beginning, and we resisted the beaten track of the revolution method. The Syrian administration repeatedly warned about the danger of terrorism spreading outside Syria. This is what has happened," the ambassador said.
He accused a number of U.S. politicians of the appearance of ISIL in the region and said their actions were thoughtless and led to severe consequences.
"We in Syria said five years ago that we were fighting terrorism but they responded that it was not true and the demonstrations were peaceful. We said that the groups would not limit themselves to Syria, but they kept telling us that the Syrian regime was trying to stay in power. No, this is not about the regime; the thing is that we are trying to counteract the terrorist ideology," Haddad said.
Now national securities of many countries are facing a threat, he said. "The main threat is neo-fascism, Wahhabism, which is rooted in religious conflicts, distortion of Islam," the Syrian diplomat said.
ISIL militants have destroyed ancient monuments of great historical value to people in Syria and other countries, he said.
"Terrorism throws humanity many centuries back. Efforts of every one of us are needed today to remove the terrorism tumor," the ambassador said.
