Assad says Mideast peace process has failed

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Tuesday that the Middle East peace process had failed, in a speech about the conflict in Lebanon on Tuesday.

 

“The peace process has failed. It has failed since its inception,” Assad said in an address at the opening of a journalists` conference in Damascus, accusing Israel of not wanting peace.

 

He said there was now a “new Middle East” after Israel`s month-long war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which he described as a “planned aggression” by the Jewish state.

 

“We do not expect peace in the near future,” he said, adding that in the absence of negotiations, resistance against Israel was the only option.

 

“Resistance is aimed at achieving peace not war.”