The United States has coordinated the shipment thousands of tons of weapons from Croatia to the militants in Syria with assistance from the UK and other European countries, a report says.

The Croat newspaper Jutarnji List, which provided the fullest details on the arms shipments, claimed that 3,000 tons of weapons, paid for by Saudi Arabia as requested by the US, have been airlifted from Zagreb airport in 75 planeloads to the militants through Jordan since November.

Previous reports had said that the weapons dated back to the former Yugoslavia but the newspaper revealed that they also came “from several other European countries including Britain.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office rejected the report, saying “the UK has not supplied weapons to the Syrian opposition.”

The weapons include rocket launchers, recoil-less guns and the M79 anti-tank weapons.

The report added that Russian-made Ilyushin jets from Jordanian International Air Cargo have regularly been seen in Zagreb airport in recent months.

The first cargo planes involved in the shipments were, according to the report, from Turkey, which also helped organize the transfer of the arms through Jordan.

Reports of the Croatian weapons in Syria first came to the surface last month when Eliot Higgins, an arms expert who blogs under the name Brown Moses, noticed in the videos posted on the YouTube that the militants had weapons in their hands not seen before in the two-year conflict.

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DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad said that the Turkish government has destroyed most of the relations that were built between Syria and Turkey, adding that the base of this relation, which is the relation between the Syrian and Turkish Peoples, remains.

The remarks came during an interview with the Turkish newspaper of Cumhuriyet on the events in Syria and the latest regional and international developments.

The interview was scheduled with several Turkish media institutions, but four Turkish media outlets didn’t attend because Director of Erdogan’s Office asked them not to conduct the interview.

Representative of D and CNN-Turk TVs and Posta newspaper Mehmet Ali Birand, representative of Hurriyet newspaper Ertugrul Ozkok and representative of Radikal newspaper Fehim Tastekin couldn’t attend the interview.

“The Arabs and the Turks have lost. It is unreasonable that now we want to go back to that stage to lose. During the past 15 months in Syria; that is, from the beginning of the crisis, we were working in more than one direction: the first direction is solving the internal crisis and combating terrorists. The second direction is preserving the Syrian-Turkish relations,” President al-Assad said.

President al-Assad added in reply to a question about the Syrian-Turkish relations following the downing of the Turkish plane , “I can say that they (the Turkish Government) have destroyed most of what we built, but there remains the basis. The basis is between the two peoples…. We will work in Syria to avoid a combat which is not in the interests of Syria nor Turkey, although I see the situation is going in this direction on the governmental level only, but on the popular level, the Turkish people is aware and will not allow –as we will not allow- the situation to go in this direction. The Turkish people know that their government wants to take them into confrontation to serve private interests.”

In a reply to a question about the Syrian stance on downing the Turkish plane, President al-Assad asserted that ” If the plane was downed outside the territorial water, Syria then has no problem in saying so and in submitting an official apology.”

President al-Assad wished that any non-hostile plane including the Turkish plane was not shot-down; however any unidentified plane and in such circumstances even if it were a Syrian plane is considered hostile. It is a military rule, not a political one, and “I think the same applies in most countries of the world.”

” when the identity of this plane is not known, it is supposed that this is an enemy plane, the plane flew low and was not seen by the Syrian radar,” President al-Assad said, citing the Israeli planes entry to Syria from the same corridor to bomb a Syrian military position in 2007, which were not observed by the Syrian radar.

President al-Assad added that from psychological point of view, the downing of the plane is not a pleasant thing because the Turkish people is a fraternal people and that it goes without saying as not to be happy with the downing of the plane but only if it were for the enemy which is the Israeli one.

President al-Assad said that the two pilots are a part of the Turkish military institution, adding that direct relations between the Syrian and Turkish military institutions are completely suspended.

President al-Assad pointed that the Turkish side had to say openly what the plane was doing in the Syrian airspace, adding that the Syrian military establishment has no phone numbers for the Turkish military side in case of emergency.

President al-Assad pointed out that Turkish Premier Erdogan and his government wanted to exploit the incident as to achieve gains which they were not able to achieve last year when they failed to rally the Turkish people behind them, adding that they tried to use this issue to create enmity between the two peoples rather than between the two governments, which is very dangerous.

In a reply to another question about the families of the two Turkish pilots of the downed planed, President al-Assad said “Certainly we do feel their feelings and as long as they are our brothers, we feel that the losing of any Turkish person is like the losing of any Syrian and irrespective of Erdogan policies which didn’t wish to the Syrian people but destruction and blood and irrespective of this government which wishes death to our people, we do wish for the Turkish people every best.”

On Geneva meeting, President al-Assad said no direct contact has been held yet between Syria and Kofi Annan or the Russian side, but there are clear points stated by Annan and the Russian Foreign Minister. First, only the Syrian people determine, and this is Syria’s stance. Violence must be halted, and this is Syria’s stance. Armed terrorist groups must be disarmed, and this is Syria’s stance. Kofi Annan said that hands which are stained with the Syrian blood are inside and outside Syria which is indicative of the role of other countries. This point is essential, but the most important issue is that everything is decided inside Syria, not outside.

President al-Assad noted that as long as everything is under Syria’s sovereignty, everything can be discussed. Anything interferes in Syria’s sovereignty is not appreciated. Yesterday, Annan said that everything is subject to the Syrian people.

“The main issue is that everything is decided by the Syrian people. What we want is preserving our sovereignty and preventing interference in our internal affairs,” President al-Assad added.

President al-Assad said, “We do not accept anything imposed on us from the outside. Everything is decided internally. Had I been personally interested in office, I would have implemented the US dictations and the Petrodollar requests, I would have sold my principles to the Petrodollar and I would have set up a missile shield in Syria.”

In reply to US secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s press conference, President al-Assad said, “First of all, statements of the US officials are not credible in general. Secondly, the US stance is basically a hostile stance to Syria in this crisis. They are a part of the problem, and they support terrorists.”

In reply to a question, President al-Assad said, “It is not acceptable to stay in office one day more if the people do not want you. Elections reveal whether the people want you or not. I am not interested in office; I am interested in what I achieve.”

English Bulletin

SANA

http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/07/03/429111.htm

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad said that the Turkish government has destroyed most of the relations that were built between Syria and Turkey, adding that the base of this relation, which is the relation between the Syrian and Turkish Peoples, remains.

The remarks came during an interview with the Turkish newspaper of Cumhuriyet on the events in Syria and the latest regional and international developments.

The interview was scheduled with several Turkish media institutions, but four Turkish media outlets didn’t attend because Director of Erdogan’s Office asked them not to conduct the interview.

Representative of D and CNN-Turk TVs and Posta newspaper Mehmet Ali Birand, representative of Hurriyet newspaper Ertugrul Ozkok and representative of Radikal newspaper Fehim Tastekin couldn’t attend the interview.

“The Arabs and the Turks have lost. It is unreasonable that now we want to go back to that stage to lose. During the past 15 months in Syria; that is, from the beginning of the crisis, we were working in more than one direction: the first direction is solving the internal crisis and combating terrorists. The second direction is preserving the Syrian-Turkish relations,” President al-Assad said.

President al-Assad added in reply to a question about the Syrian-Turkish relations following the downing of the Turkish plane , “I can say that they (the Turkish Government) have destroyed most of what we built, but there remains the basis. The basis is between the two peoples…. We will work in Syria to avoid a combat which is not in the interests of Syria nor Turkey, although I see the situation is going in this direction on the governmental level only, but on the popular level, the Turkish people is aware and will not allow –as we will not allow- the situation to go in this direction. The Turkish people know that their government wants to take them into confrontation to serve private interests.”

In a reply to a question about the Syrian stance on downing the Turkish plane, President al-Assad asserted that ” If the plane was downed outside the territorial water, Syria then has no problem in saying so and in submitting an official apology.”

President al-Assad wished that any non-hostile plane including the Turkish plane was not shot-down; however any unidentified plane and in such circumstances even if it were a Syrian plane is considered hostile. It is a military rule, not a political one, and “I think the same applies in most countries of the world.”

” when the identity of this plane is not known, it is supposed that this is an enemy plane, the plane flew low and was not seen by the Syrian radar,” President al-Assad said, citing the Israeli planes entry to Syria from the same corridor to bomb a Syrian military position in 2007, which were not observed by the Syrian radar.

President al-Assad added that from psychological point of view, the downing of the plane is not a pleasant thing because the Turkish people is a fraternal people and that it goes without saying as not to be happy with the downing of the plane but only if it were for the enemy which is the Israeli one.

President al-Assad said that the two pilots are a part of the Turkish military institution, adding that direct relations between the Syrian and Turkish military institutions are completely suspended.

President al-Assad pointed that the Turkish side had to say openly what the plane was doing in the Syrian airspace, adding that the Syrian military establishment has no phone numbers for the Turkish military side in case of emergency.

President al-Assad pointed out that Turkish Premier Erdogan and his government wanted to exploit the incident as to achieve gains which they were not able to achieve last year when they failed to rally the Turkish people behind them, adding that they tried to use this issue to create enmity between the two peoples rather than between the two governments, which is very dangerous.

In a reply to another question about the families of the two Turkish pilots of the downed planed, President al-Assad said “Certainly we do feel their feelings and as long as they are our brothers, we feel that the losing of any Turkish person is like the losing of any Syrian and irrespective of Erdogan policies which didn’t wish to the Syrian people but destruction and blood and irrespective of this government which wishes death to our people, we do wish for the Turkish people every best.”

On Geneva meeting, President al-Assad said no direct contact has been held yet between Syria and Kofi Annan or the Russian side, but there are clear points stated by Annan and the Russian Foreign Minister. First, only the Syrian people determine, and this is Syria’s stance. Violence must be halted, and this is Syria’s stance. Armed terrorist groups must be disarmed, and this is Syria’s stance. Kofi Annan said that hands which are stained with the Syrian blood are inside and outside Syria which is indicative of the role of other countries. This point is essential, but the most important issue is that everything is decided inside Syria, not outside.

President al-Assad noted that as long as everything is under Syria’s sovereignty, everything can be discussed. Anything interferes in Syria’s sovereignty is not appreciated. Yesterday, Annan said that everything is subject to the Syrian people.

“The main issue is that everything is decided by the Syrian people. What we want is preserving our sovereignty and preventing interference in our internal affairs,” President al-Assad added.

President al-Assad said, “We do not accept anything imposed on us from the outside. Everything is decided internally. Had I been personally interested in office, I would have implemented the US dictations and the Petrodollar requests, I would have sold my principles to the Petrodollar and I would have set up a missile shield in Syria.”

In reply to US secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s press conference, President al-Assad said, “First of all, statements of the US officials are not credible in general. Secondly, the US stance is basically a hostile stance to Syria in this crisis. They are a part of the problem, and they support terrorists.”

In reply to a question, President al-Assad said, “It is not acceptable to stay in office one day more if the people do not want you. Elections reveal whether the people want you or not. I am not interested in office; I am interested in what I achieve.”

English Bulletin

SANA

http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/07/03/429111.htm