Syrian president blames West for migrant crisis
The crisis that European countries are facing has become worse over the past days that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has spoken out about the difficulty of handling the issue, pointing fingers at Western nations for their support of opposition groups in his country's civil war that has been going on for years.
In an interview with Russian news organizations, he said, "If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. That's what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees."
The Syria conflict has taken the lives of more than 220,00 people, and the rest of the migrants are now struggling to get into European states in hopes of finding refuge in the developed countries.
Several Western leaders have previously slammed al-Assad for his handling of the violence in his country, the bloody war resulting to the displacement of more than 4 million Syrians abroad, as well as the rise of the ISIS.
Al-Assad, on the other hand, insisted that "Europe is responsible because it supported terrorism." According to CNN, it is yet unclear what al-Assad is exactly referring to. However, it is worth noting that the European Union has ended an arms embargo with rebels battling the Syrian army in May of 2013, while the United States has slowed down in giving support to the Syrian government despite knowing of its struggles to keep the rebels from getting stronger.
Referring to the images of a dead Syrian boy by the sea that went viral and shocked the world, al-Assad questioned why the EU feels bad for the child's death but do not have the same sympathy for the thousands who were killed by terrorists, further accusing the union with "double standards."
On the other hand, he said he is still willing to join hands with any Western leader who would join him and his army in the fight against the extremists, adding that he is looking forward to a cooperation with the West and Saudi Arabia in building a "real antiterrorist coalition" that could once and for all vanquish the terror groups.
