Syrian army progress, encouraging: Mark Weber
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Weber, director of the Institute for Historical Review, about the Syrian army continuing its offensive against foreign-backed militants in the city of Aleppo, making more advances in the area.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Weber, just how much does the Syrian army have the upper hand over the insurgents in Syria?
Weber: …the battle unfortunately has continued with mounting loss of life in Syria. This has been a very, very terrible, terrible tragedy and suffering in the region and everyone hopes of course that the fighting could be solved, or the conflict could be resolved much more quickly.
It is encouraging to see the progress made by the Syrian forces but it is also discouraging that the pace has been slow as it is.
Press TV: Of course with the Geneva II talks suffering a setback, what lies ahead for Syria?
Weber: Well unfortunately it is obvious that the opposition or the insurgent are so divided and speak without any consistent voice that any kind of negotiated settlement even if much of the opposition was in favor of it, it is just about impossible under these circumstances.
This unfortunately means that a negotiated settlement is less and less likely as time goes on which is another way of saying that ever more obviously the only real solution I think is going to be the re-establishment over the entire region of Syria by the Syrian government. There is really no other viable alternative at this point and this is also reflected in the confusion in the bankruptcy of US policy in the region.
Press TV: And of course besides the divide among different opposition groups in Syria, why do you think the Syrian opposition constantly refused to talk about the issue of terrorism in Syria, despite graphic images [being] posted online of insurgents committing acts of violence?
Weber: Well because the Syrian opposition does not want to even acknowledge the issue of terrorism. This is unfortunately a part of the overall problem and acknowledging that would of course be psychologically and propagandistically a big blow for the Syrian opposition.
No, that is something that the Syrian opposition cannot even really acknowledge.
