Syria Regime, Opposition Say Country Not in Civil War, Despite U.N. Statement
Syria has not entered into a civil war, the regime and an opposition group said on Wednesday in response to the U.N. peacekeeping chief's statement to the contrary.
"This announcement makes the killer and the victim equal and ignores all the massacres committed by the Assad regime," the Syrian Revolution General Commission said, adding that people in the country "are only asking for freedom and dignity."
"We again confirm that our peaceful revolution and our self-defense will continue" until the fall of the regime of President Bashar Assad, it said in a statement received by Agence France Presse.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Tuesday that the situation in Syria could be qualified as a civil war, as violence escalates and Assad's forces seek to retake "large chunks of territory" lost to the opposition.
Also on Wednesday, the Syrian foreign ministry said the country is not in civil war but is fighting "terrorists," and expressed "surprise" at statements made the day before by the peacekeeping chief.
"Talk of civil war in Syria is not consistent with reality... what is happening in Syria is a war against armed terrorist groups plotting against the future of the Syrian people," the ministry said.
When an uprising broke out in March last year, the regime unleashed a brutal repression of protesters, leading rebels to take up arms against the government.
The authorities have consistently blamed violence on "armed terrorist groups," and failed to recognize the existence of a widespread anti-regime movement.
In 15 months, at least 14,100 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in violence, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Source: Agence France Presse
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