Syria's Assad says insurgents "much more" dangerous than Israel

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that Jihadi insurgents in the country's long-running conflict pose more danger than Israel, which he has accused of aiding the insurgency against his rule, according to TV interviews.

"Today the real Israeli tool ... are the terrorist groups in Syria ... what they are doing is far more dangerous than what Israel does from time to time to support them ... they are the root of the problem," Assad told the Lebanese al-Manar TV in an interview, the excerpts of which went online Tuesday.

The president said Israel dares now to carry out strikes on Syrian sites, because some Syrian opposition and rebel groups are cooperating with them and other external powers and calling them to interfere in Syria.

He added that these groups must be confronted first to restore the situation to normalcy before confronting Israel.

Israel has carried out several strikes against military sites in Syria during the crisis, the latest of which was earlier this week when Israeli artillery and rocket fire struck 14 Syrian sites within 24 hours.

Syrian officials have repeatedly said Israel stroke Syrian positions to aid rebels in southern Syria, mainly in the province of Qunaitera bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"If we want to confront Israel, we must firstly confront its tools inside Syria. You cannot confront the external enemy, while you have an interior enemy," he said.

Since the conflict in Syria began more than four years ago, at least 250,000 people have been killed, including well over 10,000 children, and about 12 million forced to flee their homes.
  Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
25/8/15
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Related:

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• At least 4 rockets launched from Syria to northern Israel (IDF)

• Syrian state TV confirms Israeli strikes on Golan, reporting that only material damage had been inflicted.