MINSK, December 10. /TASS/. The struggle of the world key players is underway in Syria, to be followed by the fight for power, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during his working trip to Borisov.
"There is such a chaos in Syria that I consider the recent events only a prelude. The struggle for power will soon begin. The major world players are fighting on Syrian soil. Let that be a lesson to us. We must determine our own fate. We must save our country," the state-run BelTA news agency quoted the Belarusian president as saying.
Lukashenko added that Syria has become a testing ground. "Syria was once turned into a testing ground, the arena of combat among large states. The economy and other things — everything descended into utter confusion and chaos, and this fight broke out. Illegal armed groups got involved [in the struggle]. Russia, Belarus, and Iran supported the legitimate power and [former Syrian President] Bashar Assad," Lukashenko said. He noted that the situation in Syria had become stable before the conflict in Ukraine, adding, "One could live and work in Syria."
The Belarusian president also pointed to his long record of interaction with Syria's leaders.
On November 27, Syria’s armed opposition launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. By the evening of December 7, President Bashar Assad’s opponents had seized several major cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus, while the army withdrew from the Syrian capital. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali announced his readiness to oversee a peaceful transition of power in the republic. Assad resigned and left the country, issuing directives for the peaceful transfer of authority. Earlier, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that the republic's embassy in Syria remains open in Damascus, with diplomats working under the instructions provided.