Al-Zoubi: Syria has evidence on chemical weapons use

Minister of Information, Omran al-Zoubi, stressed that the events on the ground in Syria prove that Syria cannot be fragmented and the Syrian Arab Army is fighting the armed terrorist groups in some areas to prevent such attempts. In an interview with China Arab Times Newspaper, al-Zoubi explained that the theory of western military intervention is doomed to failure because of the capabilities of the Syrian Arab Army and international support by Syria's friends, including Russia, China and Iran. He added that Syria is engaged in a war against the armed terrorist groups which came from 83 states, including all Arab states except for Djibouti, pointing out that about 36 to 48 thousand gunmen are estimated to be in Aleppo and Damascus countryside and 80% of them are not Syrians. The information Minister said that if the Arab Gulf states wanted to launch military intervention in Syria, it would be under U.S. supervision, adding that in case such a step was taken by the Gulf states, there will be no Gulf states afterwards. Concerning the international conference on Syria, al-Zoubi pointed out that the Geneva conference is meant to achieve a political solution and the idea of this conference was proposed by the Syrian leadership since the beginning of the crisis, but the opposition and the armed terrorist groups did not believe in the political solution. Al-Zoubi said that the Americans started supporting the political solution through Geneva conference because eventually they became aware about the impossibility of the fall of Syria, noting that the Americans are still procrastinating the political solution as they hope that the armed groups would make any progress on the ground. The Information Minister clarified that the conference would help find a political solution to the crisis in Syria if it was held with no preconditions and the support to the terrorists was stopped. He added that Syria will take part in the conference through a government delegation and this participation is based on the agreement between the Russians and the Americans. As for the international investigation committee on the use of weapons of mass destruction in some areas in Syria, al-Zoubi stressed that it is Syria that invited the UN to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal area in Aleppo and the committee will be investigating in three sites, including Khan al-Assal, and it will finish work in two weeks. He added that Syria has clear-cut evidence on the use of chemical weapons by the armed terrorist groups through eyewitnesses and soil and air samples, stressing that the Syrian state did not and will not use these weapons –in case they exist- under any circumstances. Concerning the displaced Syrians, the Information Minister pointed out that the Syrian state is offering assistance to the displaced at the temporary residential centers, noting that President Bashar al-Assad proposed an initiative on January 6th that calls on people to come back to their homes. The Minister pointed out that Syria is working to bolster ties with China in all fields, stressing that China will have essential role in Syria's reconstruction process.