In an exclusive interview with Agence La Belle France Presse, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad also insisted that Russia had not wavered in its support, despite comments by President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...suggesting a more conciliatory tone towards the West.
"Syria has taken every measure to retaliate against... an aggression," he said, although he refused to provide any clue as to what that might mean.
"The Syrian government will not change position even if there is World War III. No Syrian can sacrifice the independence of his country," he added.
Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato...
in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Muqdad warned that Syria will strike back not only at Israel, but at Jordan and Turkey if they participated alongside the U.S. in a military attack.
U.S. President Barack Obama
If you have a small business, you didn't build that...
is busy trying to convince Congress to approve a strike against the Assad regime in retaliation for a suspected deadly poison gas attack on August 21 that Washington blames on Damascus.
The regime categorically denies any responsibility for the alleged attack in Damascus suburbs and has said it is cooperating with U.N. inspectors who are currently analyzing samples taken from the sites of the suspected incident.
Analysts fear that the conflict currently tearing Syria apart will spill over permanently into fragile, neighboring countries such as Leb, where supporters of the Damascus regime are already pitted against its opponents.
And allies Russia and Iran have warned that any military intervention would have devastating regional consequences.
But in an interview broadcast earlier Wednesday, Putin appeared to strike a more conciliatory note by saying he did not exclude agreeing to strikes if it was proven the regime had carried out the alleged gas attack.
Yet Muqdad stressed that Moscow had not wavered in its support of Damascus.
"The Russian position is unchanged; it's a responsible position of a friend that is in favor of peace," he said.