President Assad salutes injured Syria soldiers

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has saluted the injured soldiers that have been engaged in the battle against terrorists in a country gripped by five years of deadly violence.

President Assad and his wife Asma greeted the soldiers and their mothers during a ceremony in Damascus to mark Mother’s Day. The footage of the meeting was aired on Syrian TV but the exact date was not provided.

“No matter what the whole country offers it is not compared to what you have offered to the country. The only thing that is equal to the sacrifices you have offered, whether in soul, health or the body, is the safety of the country. When the country returns to health, I believe that every one of you will say I feel that my hand, my leg, my eye and my health are now healed,” President Assad stated.

According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people and displaced nearly half of Syria’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

Syrian forces have made major advances in liberating the areas under the control of the Takfiri terrorists in the country over the past months.

“You are most welcome. We are happy not only because you came here but also because we could greet you one by one… You all have given us a lot of strength that we always take from heroes. We take it from your morality and steadiness. We are so happy that you came,” Assad said.

Geneva talks

Meanwhile, indirect UN-brokered peace talks between Damascus and the foreign-backed opposition on the conflict in Syria are ongoing in Geneva, Switzerland.

The negotiations have time and again failed to conclude as the opposition delegation, mainly the so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC), has made demands the government rejects. Those demands include Assad’s stepping down in a future government.

On Monday, the peace talks hit another impasse.

Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari, who also leads the Damascus negotiating team, once again rejected the opposition’s demand to exclude Assad from a “transitional government.” He said it was “premature to talk about it,” according to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

“My message was (that) premature (for him) means imminent as far as we are concerned,” the lead Syrian negotiator told de Mistura.

Yahya Kodmani, an HNC member, on Sunday accused the Syrian government of being “obstinate” in the course of the negotiations.

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