Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by the Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun, which aired on Syria News TV and was posted on the Internet on October 9, 2011:
Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun: "The moment the first missile hits Syria, all the sons and daughters of Lebanon and Syria will set out to become martyrdom-seekers in Europe and on Palestinian soil. I say to all of Europe and to the U.S.: We will prepare martyrdom-seekers who are already among you, if you bomb Syria or Lebanon. From now on, it will be 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and he who dealt the first blow is more unjust,' and you are the ones who have done us an injustice.
"I say to every Arab and to every human being: Do not think that the people who will commit martyrdom in France, Britain, or the U.S., will be Arabs and Muslims. They will be a new Jules Jammal or a new Muhammad Al-Durrah. They will all be like the righteous [of the past]. I beg you not to come near our country." [...]
