Syria Received First Shipment of S-300 Missiles From Russia, Says Pres.Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Lebanese Al-Manar TV that the country already received the first shipment of S-300 missiles from Russia and will receive the second shipment soon.

Al-Akhbar newspaper’s website published some important remarks of the President Assad’s recorded interview which is to broadcast from Al-Manar TV on Thursday night.

“We will participate in Geneva-II conference but we are not optimistic to its result,” Assad said. Geneva talk is due to be held possibly in June.

Assad confirmed military presence of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in Syria and said: “Hezbollah’s forces are in border regions of Syria with Lebanon and they are fighting against Terrorist groups but we are handling the war.”

“Almost 100,000 armed terrorists entered Syria with support of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey,” he said.

Syrian President warned to “respond immediately” to any future attack by Israel.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem also said on Wednesday that Syria will immediately respond to “any possible future attacks by the Zionist regime.”

In an interview with Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, Al-Moallem said that any response from Damascus will be given without a warning.

“Syria will not let any Israeli aggression go unanswered without retaliation. The retaliation will be the same size as the aggression, and the same type of weapons will be used,” he said.

Moallem added that Syria would take part in the upcoming talks in Geneva without any precondition, adding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would remain president until the next presidential election scheduled to be held in 2014.

“From now until the next elections, President Bashar al-Assad is the president of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.

The Syrian foreign minister noted that any deal reached in the Geneva talks would be put to a referendum inside Syria. “If it wins the support of the Syrian people, we will go ahead with it,” Moallem said.