Syria is “in a state of defense not in a state of attack.”: Jihad Makdissi

The Syrian Foreign Ministry says a recent deadly incident in the west-central province of Hama was a confrontation between the army and armed groups.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said in a press conference in Damascus on Sunday that what happened in the village of Treimseh in Hama Province on July 12 “was not an attack by the army on innocent civilians… It was a clash between regular forces and armed groups who do not believe in a peaceful solution.”

“This is the reality, politically and militarily,” Makdissi stated, criticizing UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan for a July 14 letter to Damascus that accused Syrian forces of using heavy weapons or helicopters in the fighting.

“Yesterday we received a letter from Mr. Kofi Annan addressed to Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem. The least that can be said about this letter about what happened in Treimseh is that it did not rely on facts. As diplomatically as possible, we say that this letter was very rushed.”

“Government forces did not use planes, or helicopters, or tanks or artillery. The heaviest weapon used was an RPG (rocket propelled grenade),” the Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, rejecting as “absolutely not true” reports suggesting the army had used aircraft in the fighting.

Makdissi also pointed out that the situation “is difficult on the ground” and that Syria is “in a state of defense not in a state of attack.”

The development comes a day after a team of UN observers arrived in Treimseh to investigate the deadly incident.

Sausan Ghosheh, spokeswoman for the UN observer mission in Syria, told reporters in Damascus on Sunday that the team “can confirm there was a military operation [in Treimseh] on July 12.”

The confrontation between the Syrian army and armed groups in Hama took place several weeks after 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, were killed by U.S, Israel and their regional allies backed and financed in the town of Houla, located in the central province of Homs, on May 25.

Brigadier General Qassem Jamal Suleiman, the head of an investigation committee formed by the Syrian government, said on May 31 that the probe into the Houla massacre revealed that anti-Damascus armed groups had carried out the killings to “bring foreign military intervention against the country in any form and way.”