RandomGuy
03-03-2017, 12:50 PM
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he believes terrorists are among the nearly 5 million refugees who have fled his war-torn country in the last few years, according to the transcript of an exclusive interview released by Yahoo News on Friday.
The emboldened Syrian strongman rejected President Trump’s call to create safe zones for refugees and displaced Syrians, described recent reports of mass executions at his government’s military prisons as “fake news,” and said he would welcome U.S. troops into Syria — so long as they agreed to his terms.
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The interview conducted by Yahoo News in Damascus was the first granted by Assad to U.S. media since Donald Trump became president. The Syrian leader said he has not had any contact — directly or indirectly — with the White House since Trump entered office. Trump’s travel ban — which has since been blocked by U.S. courts — prevents all Syrians from entering the U.S.
Throughout the interview Assad made numerous assertions that run counter to established facts, reports and studies provided by the United Nations, human rights organizations and other non-government monitoring groups:
– Assad repeated U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that terrorists are hiding among the almost 5 million Syrian refugees that have fled the country since the civil war broke out nearly five years ago. But when asked for evidence to back up his claim, Assad simply said: “You can find it on the net.”
Fact check: What you can also find n the internet, of course, are reports from the United Nations refugee agency which state that Syrian refugees pose no risk to the U.S. or other countries.
https://news.vice.com/story/assad-jumps-on-the-fake-news-bandwagon-to-deflect-reports-of-mass-executions
The emboldened Syrian strongman rejected President Trump’s call to create safe zones for refugees and displaced Syrians, described recent reports of mass executions at his government’s military prisons as “fake news,” and said he would welcome U.S. troops into Syria — so long as they agreed to his terms.
ADVERTISEMENT
The interview conducted by Yahoo News in Damascus was the first granted by Assad to U.S. media since Donald Trump became president. The Syrian leader said he has not had any contact — directly or indirectly — with the White House since Trump entered office. Trump’s travel ban — which has since been blocked by U.S. courts — prevents all Syrians from entering the U.S.
Throughout the interview Assad made numerous assertions that run counter to established facts, reports and studies provided by the United Nations, human rights organizations and other non-government monitoring groups:
– Assad repeated U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that terrorists are hiding among the almost 5 million Syrian refugees that have fled the country since the civil war broke out nearly five years ago. But when asked for evidence to back up his claim, Assad simply said: “You can find it on the net.”
Fact check: What you can also find n the internet, of course, are reports from the United Nations refugee agency which state that Syrian refugees pose no risk to the U.S. or other countries.
https://news.vice.com/story/assad-jumps-on-the-fake-news-bandwagon-to-deflect-reports-of-mass-executions