Friday, February 8, 2013

To Nuland-KAGAN: "Are you saying that the Syrian military doesn’t have a right to defend itself?"


"MS. NULAND: Yeah. Can I just, before we leave Syria, just call attention to reports that we’re getting about intense clashes over the last two days in the Damascus neighborhoods of Hajar al-Aswad, Jobar, Zamalka? In response to an offensive launched by the armed opposition, we understand that the regime has once again resorted to indiscriminately shelling unarmed civilians who – including those who are not active participants in the hostilities. So we again condemn the regime’s indiscriminate aerial bombing of civilian areas. This violates every tenet of international law, and we call for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
QUESTION: Okay. Wait a second. So on that, you would not have a problem if they were just going after the rebels who were attacking them?
MS. NULAND: Well, obviously you know where we are, which is to lay the preponderance of the blame for the violence in Syria and the violence in Damascus at the feet of the Assad regime. So we --
QUESTION: But you said that they were – that these attacks came in response to an offensive by the armed opposition.
MS. NULAND: I did, and --
QUESTION: So you’re not – are you saying that the Syrian military doesn’t have a right to defend itself, or are you saying that they don’t have --
MS. NULAND: I’m saying that they should not --"

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