Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said today, during a joint press conference with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, that war crimes are being perpetrated in Gaza.

He clarified Syria's position to Sarkozy – namely, that a solution for Gaza means an immediate cessation of the barbaric aggression and shooting, an immediate withdrawal from Gaza, and the removal of the blockade on it, as the conditions for a genuine ceasefire.

Assad said that Israel had not learned its lesson from the 2006 Lebanon war, when it wanted to uproot the resistance, which said was not an organization that could be dismantled, a person that could be assassinated, or a weapons store that could be destroyed, but a form of thought that is expanding.

He also said that Syria still adhered to its call to convene an Arab summit, and that a limited summit could also be convened (see "Report: Limited Arab Summit Of Moderate Countries").

Source: Champress.net, January 6, 2009