Posted on May 17, 2013 by Alexandra Valiente
Press TV has conducted an interview with Franklin Lamb, human rights and international lawyer, about a new video clip showing the al-Nusra Front terrorists in Syria executing a group of eleven Syrian soldiers. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Franklin Lamb, obviously a very telling video, but what I find disturbing is the fact that you have the UN General Assembly yesterday in New York who passed that resolution on Syria and did not even mention the word “terrorism” in the text and here you are seeing what this video is showing. What does that show?
Lamb: Well I came back from Syria exactly one hour ago after spending twelve days there and obviously this is absolute barbarism.
The United Nations now is a captive, I am afraid to say, still of the American administration but I think progress is going to happen. I think the Russians are going to be resolute.
This kind of atrocity I can tell you from being in Aleppo, in Homs, in Sham and in suburbs, this is totally rejected by the Syrian people. The Syrian people are rising, they are rising in the rejection of this Takfiri exhibition and I think that the future looks pretty good in terms of ridding Syria, which as you know historically is a secular state, of this kind of absolute terrorism and extremism.
Watch what the Syrian ambassador does tomorrow at United Nations, Ja’afari. He has released an email and I think there will be a lot said about this showing that who is complicit in this and who is using these criminals to their political advantage.
But I think this is the nadir if you will, the nadir of this tragedy in Syria and I think we are going to see dramatic changes hopefully next month at Geneva too, well we have to see.
Press TV: And quickly since you mentioned that email, if you can quickly respond to this, Bashar Ja’afari said this email originated from Doha, Qatar.
And my question is then are we seeing somewhat of a split then within the countries that are supporting these insurgents namely for example Qatar and the US and its allies, because this conference that is supposed to take place then, are they going to try to not have this conference happen, countries such as Qatar and maybe Saudi Arabia?
Lamb: I think so. I am glad that you mentioned that. You know we have been out in the countryside and I heard about that this morning from Bouthaina Shaaban in her office in Damascus.
There is a split, more than a split. Who can defend this? Who can defend that barbarism involving the body of a soldier? No Syrian person can accept this and these people from these twenty-nine countries are criminals who are going to be rejected and ejected.
The fact is that from Turkey to Jordan to Saudi and the [Persian] Gulf they miscalculated very badly and they now are on the defensive and I think we are going to see the Russians play a role, the Iranians and hopefully end this barbarism.
I can tell you from talking to many shopkeepers, officials, journalists and others, activists in Syria this is repulsive. This has nothing to do with the eight thousand years of Syrian history or the seven hundred years of Islam in Damascus.
These are criminals and I think we are going to see some dramatic, hopefully dramatic action very soon. But yes, those who [are] the Friends of Syria and those alliances, what do they mean now? What does the Arab League really stand for now by expelling one of their members and supporting the sanctions?
We visited three hospitals just this morning. We saw the effect of those American sanctions on the patients who are there, who need their injections, who need the medicines, who need that medical equipment.
I think the pendulum is now moving in the right direction and as long as the resistance is strong and Syria is the pillar as you know in the era of resistance, the culture of resistance, I think we are going to see major changes in the Middle East within the next couple months but then in the next eighteen months we will see who is left in the [Persian] Gulf and what is the position of the Syrian Arab Republic then. These are absolute outrageous.
Press TV
Press TV: Franklin Lamb, obviously a very telling video, but what I find disturbing is the fact that you have the UN General Assembly yesterday in New York who passed that resolution on Syria and did not even mention the word “terrorism” in the text and here you are seeing what this video is showing. What does that show?
Lamb: Well I came back from Syria exactly one hour ago after spending twelve days there and obviously this is absolute barbarism.
The United Nations now is a captive, I am afraid to say, still of the American administration but I think progress is going to happen. I think the Russians are going to be resolute.
This kind of atrocity I can tell you from being in Aleppo, in Homs, in Sham and in suburbs, this is totally rejected by the Syrian people. The Syrian people are rising, they are rising in the rejection of this Takfiri exhibition and I think that the future looks pretty good in terms of ridding Syria, which as you know historically is a secular state, of this kind of absolute terrorism and extremism.
Watch what the Syrian ambassador does tomorrow at United Nations, Ja’afari. He has released an email and I think there will be a lot said about this showing that who is complicit in this and who is using these criminals to their political advantage.
But I think this is the nadir if you will, the nadir of this tragedy in Syria and I think we are going to see dramatic changes hopefully next month at Geneva too, well we have to see.
Press TV: And quickly since you mentioned that email, if you can quickly respond to this, Bashar Ja’afari said this email originated from Doha, Qatar.
And my question is then are we seeing somewhat of a split then within the countries that are supporting these insurgents namely for example Qatar and the US and its allies, because this conference that is supposed to take place then, are they going to try to not have this conference happen, countries such as Qatar and maybe Saudi Arabia?
Lamb: I think so. I am glad that you mentioned that. You know we have been out in the countryside and I heard about that this morning from Bouthaina Shaaban in her office in Damascus.
There is a split, more than a split. Who can defend this? Who can defend that barbarism involving the body of a soldier? No Syrian person can accept this and these people from these twenty-nine countries are criminals who are going to be rejected and ejected.
The fact is that from Turkey to Jordan to Saudi and the [Persian] Gulf they miscalculated very badly and they now are on the defensive and I think we are going to see the Russians play a role, the Iranians and hopefully end this barbarism.
I can tell you from talking to many shopkeepers, officials, journalists and others, activists in Syria this is repulsive. This has nothing to do with the eight thousand years of Syrian history or the seven hundred years of Islam in Damascus.
These are criminals and I think we are going to see some dramatic, hopefully dramatic action very soon. But yes, those who [are] the Friends of Syria and those alliances, what do they mean now? What does the Arab League really stand for now by expelling one of their members and supporting the sanctions?
We visited three hospitals just this morning. We saw the effect of those American sanctions on the patients who are there, who need their injections, who need the medicines, who need that medical equipment.
I think the pendulum is now moving in the right direction and as long as the resistance is strong and Syria is the pillar as you know in the era of resistance, the culture of resistance, I think we are going to see major changes in the Middle East within the next couple months but then in the next eighteen months we will see who is left in the [Persian] Gulf and what is the position of the Syrian Arab Republic then. These are absolute outrageous.
Press TV