Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 10 (IANS) There was no Arab Spring or revolution in Syria but only “planned and sponsored terror”, the country’s envoy to India said Tuesday.

Talking to women reporters at the India Women Press Corps here, Syrian Ambassador Riad Kamel Abbas also alleged that the US was behind the unrest that has arisen in his nation.

“This is no Arab Spring, it is the winter,” said Abbas.

“Syria is the only country which said no to America on Libya. They are making Syria pay for that. There is no revolution in Syria, it is cross-border terror we are facing,” he said.

Abbas also said that the whole phenomenon called the “Arab Spring” in the region was sponsored by the US to create instability in the region.

“Arab Spring is planned and fabricated, not indigenous. They 9the US) were able to remove the leaders because they were brought by America,” he said adding.

“They cannot remove (Syrian President) Bashar Al Assad because he has the support of the people, he was not made president by America,” he said.

The ambassador also said that Al Qaeda was behind the terror that was spreading, and US was supporting it.

Asked about what he felt on India’s nonpartisan stand, Abbas said his country was “satisfied”.

“India sticks to its policy of non-interference, and Syria respects India,” he said.

On the recent reports on Russia shifting its stand of supporting the Assad government, Abbas said the Russians confirmed that there was no change in their stand on Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organisation with a network of activists in Syria, reported Saturday that the toll in the violence-hit country reached 17,000 over the last 16 months since the beginning of a revolt against President Assad.