Bashar al-Assad Quotations

Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East.

Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.

Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.

As far as we are concerned, we Syria have not changed.

Since its very inception, Israel has been a threat.

It should be known that Israel is based on treachery.

The problem is not the occupation, but how people deal with it.

When our interests matched, the Americans have been good to us, and when the interests differed, they wanted us to mold ourselves to them, which we refused.

We have more difficult circumstances than most of the Arab countries but in spite of that Syria is stable. Why? Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue.

But the issue has to do with land, which is our land.

The problem with the West is that they start with political reform going towards democracy.

When we analyze this war in a materialistic way and ask when is it going to end and who will be the winner and the loser, it means that we do not see the endgame.

As soon as the legitimate Lebanese government is convinced that the conditions have ripened and that Lebanon is able to maintain stability on its own... Then, the Syrian forces will return to their homeland.

You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind.

I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.

We believe that Lebanon has been the first real experience for all the Arabs.

Today, the Iraqi citizen sees that America is coming and wants to occupy his country and kill him, and he is willing to experience for himself what happened in Palestine.

It is even more so when it comes to Iraq, which is a large Arab country with scientific, material, and human resources and is able to accomplish, at the least, what Lebanon accomplished, and more.

America is interested in re-arranging the region as it sees fit.

The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.

Israel does not care about the international public opinion.

We are dealing with treachery and threats, which accompanied the establishment of Israel.

It would be a mistake to link anything that Israel does to a certain circumstance. And it is a mistake to feel comfortable in any circumstance just because Israel did not act on it.

Lebanon was under Israeli occupation, up to its capital, but we did not consider that a disaster. Why? Because it was very clear that there are ways to resist.

Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.

The most significant indicator that there is no disaster in Iraq is the fact that there is no exodus.

We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience.

When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country.

Is there an equality of power between America and Iraq? Definitely not; however, the Iraqi people are standing fast and are defending their land courageously.

I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country.

Israel ranks her priorities in the following way: security, land, and water.

It is natural that we should always expect an Israeli attack, even when it does not threaten.

None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel.

You in Lebanon, your power is no match to Israel. Israel, militarily, is more powerful than you and maybe it is more powerful than all the Arab countries, or most of them.

No doubt that the U.S. is a super-power capable of conquering a relatively small country, but is it able to control it?

When you use an armament, you use it to defend the civilians. You kill terrorists in order to defend civilians. That's the natural role of any army in the world.

No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person.

Many Syrians understand that the only way to protect your country is to live with each other with integration, not only in coexistence, which is actually more precise to call cohabitation, when people interact and integrate with each other on daily basis in every detail. So, I think in this regard I am more assured that Syria will be more unified. So, the only problem now that we face is not the partition, but terrorism.

I believe that the United States is not genuine regarding having a cessation of violence in Syria.

The fact that there are people who criticize me doesn't mean that people hate me.

Your policy should be a mixture between your interests and how you reach your ends, but based on values. It cannot be only the end justifies the means, because for the criminals, ends justify the means, for thieves, for every illegal and immoral action, the end justifies the means.

You have to look at the reality in Syria. Whenever we liberate any city or village from the terrorists, the civilians will go back to the city, while they flee that city when the terrorists attack that area, the opposite. So, they flee, first of all, the war itself; they flee the area under the control of the terrorists, they flee the difficult situation because of the embargo by the West on Syria.

In the war, you lose areas, but you recapture another area. So, it is difficult to tell whether you are losing or gaining or it was a standstill. No-one has this answer.

The captain doesn't think about death, or life, he thinks about saving his ship,

In Great Britain, an author published a book in which he claimed that Jesus Christ had children. Such statements don't trigger civil unrest and bloodshed in Europe. But write similar statements about Islam in Syria and you might see bloody uprisings.

Circumstances don't matter, only my state of being matters. What state of being are you choosing?

I don't believe that in a couple of months Erdogan and the United States regime, and the Western regimes in general, and of course Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are going to stop the support of the terrorists.

There is no such things as "Islamic terrorism," because terrorism differs from Islam. There's just terrorism, not Islamic terrorism. But the term "Islamic terrorism" has become widespread.

The Israeli lobby has clout in the U.S., which means that re-arranging the region and controlling its resources one way or another, will serve Israel through its control over the American administration.

It's a dangerous thing when someone gets up in the morning and has nothing to eat.

The worst loss for any country is not the infrastructure or the buildings or the material loss; actually, it's the human resources loss.

I don't want to talk about methods of killing. But what is the difference between a bomb worn on the body and one dropped from an airplane? Both of them kill people.

Many people do not understand the difference between peace and a peace treaty. If you want to have real peace with normal relations between people, you need to have comprehensive peace.

The problem with every American candidate regarding the presidency, I am not talking only about this campaign or elections, but generally, that they say something during the campaign and they do the opposite after the campaign.

There is no good war.

You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind. So the core issue is how to open the mind, the whole society, and this means everybody in society including everyone. I am not talking about the state or average or common people. I am talking about everybody; because when you close your mind as an official you cannot upgrade and vice versa.

There can be no peace without unity.

[The Jews] tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.

It's not exactly fair to make a mistake yourself and then start blaming others for it.

We have hopes that we can see rational American presidents; fair, obey the international law, deal with other countries according to mutual respect, parity, etc., but we all know that this is only wishful thinking and fantasy.

Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East. That is why we are in contact with most of the problems forever, let us say, whether directly or indirectly.

[Enemies of Syria] are the enemies of the people and the enemies of God. And the enemies of God will go to hell.

If you want to kill the Syrian people, who's going to support us as a government, as officials? No one.

Every country has criminals who have to be fought. They can exist anywhere, including the government or the army - or outside the government and army.

Trust that the thing in life that excites you the most comes complete with all the tools necessary to support you in the doing of that thing. It is automatic; it is built in. All you need to do is act on the opportunities that doing that situation brings to you.

I don't believe the United States will be ready to join Russia in fighting terrorists in Syria.

If you ask Americans whether they've been successful at sealing the border with Mexico, they'll tell you that it's a very difficult proposition.

But for us, in Syria, we have principles. We'll do anything to prevent the region from another crazy war. It's not only Syria. Because it will start in Syria...

The United States doesn't have the will to work against al-Nusra or even ISIS, because they believe that this is a card they can use for their own agenda. If they attack al-Nusra or ISIS, they will lose a very important card regarding the situation in Syria.

Simply naming objectives isn't sufficient for a vision. If I say that I'm going to build a large palace, but I don't have any money to do so, then that is not a vision - it's an illusion.

Under Syrian law, a journalist is not allowed to report on military matters. This may be wrong or right, but that's just the way it is.

If you want to talk about mistakes, every country has mistakes, every government has mistakes, every person has mistakes. When you have a war, you have more mistakes. That's the natural thing.

People do not only live on interests; they also live on beliefs, especially in very ideological areas. Unless you understand the ideological aspect of the region, you cannot understand what is happening.

This is the Middle East, where every week you have something new; so whatever you talk about this week will not be valuable next week.

They want to criticize you, let them criticize and do not worry. Just be transparent with your people and tell them this is the reality.

Think of the war against terrorism. In my view, Washington's approach can be compared to a doctor constantly banging away at a tumor instead of removing it surgically.

Whatever the American officials said about the conflicts in Syria in general has no credibility. Whatever they say, it's just lies and, let's say, bubbles, has no foundation on the ground.

History teaches us that nobody can prevent a resistance group from arming when it has the support of the people.

How can you be afraid to feel? Isn't fear a feeling? If you're feeling fear, you've felt one of the most negative emotions there is to feel. Everything else should be a piece of cake. Feel good, feel happy, feel healthy, feel loved, feel abundant, feel creative, feel compassionate, feel knowledgeable, feel powerful.

I don't believe in war, I believe in the principle of deterrence.

I would only give a prize to whoever works for the peace in Syria, first of all by stopping the terrorists from flowing towards Syria, only.

Hizbullah is not a militia.

In any war, people will pay the price.

Look at the results of regime change in Iraq. You can't possibly claim that it was successful.

I cannot afford to make mistakes.

Whenever you have a war, the civilians and the innocents will pay the price. That's in any war, any war is a bad war.

In the United States, they always talk about subtitles, about chapters in a book without taking the main title of the book. They talk about a subtitle in a chapter and if you ask them about the headline, the main title, they say they do not know.

We are facing an external attack against us, which is more dangerous than any other previous wars... We are dealing with those who are extremists, who only know the language of killing and criminality.

Those who arrived on America's tanks are not credible in Iraq.

You cannot have partition only on political bases or geographic bases. It should be social first of all when the communities do not live with each other.

Almost all countries have natural dividing lines, and when ethnic and religious partition occurs in one country, it'll soon happen elsewhere.

Freedom and democracy are nothing but instruments, just like stability. The goal is called progress and growth. Anyone who puts freedom ahead of stability is hurting growth.

Terrorism is a state of mind that on the one hand has to do with ignorance and, on the other hand, can be attributed to a feeling of desperation over the political situation, which at some point takes the form of revenge.

Hamas will not disappear. Hamas will not raise the white flag. Hamas has the trust of the people, and anyone who wishes to destroy it must destroy an entire people.

When you have terrorists, you don't throw at them balloons or you don't use rubber sticks, for example. You have to use armaments.

Personally, I do not support the concept of suicide bombings. This is not part of our [syrian] culture. But whether you condemn them or not, suicide bombings are a reality.

Even a president makes mistakes.

You cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.

A bomb is a bomb, what's the difference between different kinds of bombs? All bombs are to kill, but it's about how to use it.

Reform has to be based on opening your mind and opening the mind does not come from decrees or laws. It comes from a whole set of circumstances, which if you do not have, anything you do will be not productive or will be counter-productive.