Following are excerpts from an interview with Ammar Qurabi, a civil rights activist of the Syrian opposition, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on July 31, 2011.
Ammar Qurabi: At a time when the US is saying this is a war of the regime against the people, we have learned that in Syria there is no regime whatsoever. This is a gang, a clique, not a regime. It cannot be called a regime when it perpetrates crimes against its own citizens, killing children with knives, in cold blood. This is killing for the sake of killing. Killing and torture. It cannot be called a regime when it embarks on a war against six cities, claiming that armed gangs are swarming all over Syria.
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All the weapons and tanks deployed in the streets of Syria might suggest that another shipment has arrived from Iran. 123 tanks confront a single city, Deir Al-Zour, which is a small city with fewer than a million inhabitants. We are talking about an unimaginable scenario. Since 1967, the regime has been amassing tanks and weapons, and now we know why – to kill its own people.
But when the same city of Deir Al-Zour was attacked by Israel, he said that he would respond in the right time and place.
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