Damascus is committed to implementing Annan’s plan: Syrian FM

TEHRAN, July 30 (MNA) – During a press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran, the Syrian foreign minister said that his country is committed to implementing the peace plan put forward by Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy on Syria, to help resolve the crisis in the Arab country. Annan, a former secretary general of the United Nations, has put forward a six-point plan for ending the crisis in Syria, which calls for a UN-supervised ceasefire by all parties, the withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from cities, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Walid al-Muallem added that the opposition forces that are being supported by certain regional countries are not committed to the plan and said, “We call on the opposition groups to negotiate with the government.” Asked if an agreement for military cooperation between Iran and Syria, which was signed on 16 June 2006, can be used in the event of a military campaign against Syria, he said, “Syria has a strong army and can easily defend its territory through reliance on its capabilities.” In reply to a question about the commotion created about chemical weapons in Syria, Muallem stated, “The reality is that we have been facing such propagandistic media campaign by the United States, Europe, and certain Arab countries since a month ago.” He added, “Regardless of whether Syria has chemical weapons or not, I want to say that the aggressive Israel has nuclear weapons.” “We are ready to help establish a zone free of nuclear, chemical, and microbiological weapons in the Middle East and presented an initiative to the United Nations in 2003 to this end, but the United States is preventing it from being implemented,” he said. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Syrian foreign minister said that those opposition forces that surrender will be released if they do not have any one’s blood on their hands. Terrorists will suffer defeat in Aleppo At the beginning of the press conference, Muallem commented on the blast at the headquarters of the National Security Bureau in Damascus on July 18 and said that the Syrian people are determined to emerge victorious. The terrorists who fled to Aleppo after their plot was foiled in Damascus will suffer defeat there as well, he added.