Quotes by Bashar al-Assad

• Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.
• Armies are not only for offensives.
• As far as we are concerned, we Syria have not changed.
• 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.
• But the issue has to do with land, which is our land.
• Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.
• Hizbullah is not a militia.
• 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.
• Israel ranks her priorities in the following way: security, land, and water.
• 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.
• Israel does not care about the international public opinion.
• It is natural that we should always expect an Israeli attack, even when it does not threaten.
• The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.
• The problem is not the occupation, but how people deal with it.
• No doubt that the U.S. is a super-power capable of conquering a relatively small country, but is it able to control it?
• 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.
• Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.
• 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.
• 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.
• The most significant indicator that there is no disaster in Iraq is the fact that there is no exodus.
• 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.
• The U.S. and Britain are incapable of controlling all of Iraq.
• We are dealing with treachery and threats, which accompanied the establishment of Israel.
• We believe that Lebanon has been the first real experience for all the Arabs.
• We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience.
• When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country.
• 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.