France Paid No Heed To List Of Paris Jihadis Given By Syria Two Years Ago : Envoy
12 December, New Delhi
The Assad Government had two years ago given to France a list of terrorists who later carried out November 13 Paris massacre but the country refused to acknowledge it, Syrian Ambassador to India Riad Abbas said here Saturday.
” We recently again gave the list of Jihadis involved in the November 13 attack to a team of the French intelligence and security officials which made a secret visit to Syria,” Abbas said.
In an interaction with members of the India Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents (IAFAC) , the Syrian envoy said that after the Paris attack, the French Government wanted that the Assad Government should fully cooperate with their intelligence and security but they were told that they should first recognise the legitimacy of the existing regime and open their embassy in Damuscus they had closed down.
”The Syrian Government is all for cooperation with the France on humanitarian ground, but it is the French team that it cannot deal with them under the table. They should open their embassy and talk through proper channel,” Abbas said.
The Ambassador accused US and its Western and Middle Eastern allies of creating ISIS and supplying weapons to it. ” They are now making all hue and cry when the monster has gone out of their control ,” he said.”It is a very big conspiracy. The whole fight is for Syria which is a very resource rich country, having massive reserves of gas and much more oil than Kuwait,” Abbas said.
The envoy also slammed the Turkish government for ” its role in the Western game plan. ” Abbas said the first priority of the Assad Government was to control terror and then find a political solution to the problem.
He, however, made it clear that the Syrian Government would not talk to the ”Opposition thrust on the country from outside”, but to the national Opposition.
The Syrian Ambassador said his country was ready for elections, but polls have to be conducted under the eye of neutral countries like India. Abbas expressed his country’s desire for India’s involvement in the search for a political solution to his war-torn country.