Bashar al-Assad: Military

“They are not my forces, they are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces.”

Bashar al-Assad

Interview with Barbara Walters (7 Dec. 2011) on the military escalation of the Syrian conflict

“The army is engaged in a crucial and heroic battle… on which the destiny of the nation and its people rests. The enemy is among us today, using agents to destabilise the country, the security of its citizens… and continues to exhaust our economic and scientific resources. They (the enemy) wanted to deprive the people of their national decision… but they were astonished to see these proud people, who confronted their plans and defeated them. You men of the country… you have demonstrated, in dealing with the war waged against our country by the terrorist gangs, that you possess an iron will and a keen awareness. Our military remains the backbone of the motherland.”

Bashar al-Assad

"Syria Army in Crucial and Heroic Battle says Bashar Al Assad" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9443296/Syria-army-in-crucial-and-heroic-battle-says-Bashar-al-Assad.html, Daily Telegraph (1 August 2012)

“They are not my forces. They are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am [the] president. I don't own the country so they are not my forces.”

Bashar al-Assad

Interview with Barbara Walters (7 Dec. 2011) on the military escalation of the Syrian conflict