When you talk about Al-Qaeda it doesn't matter if he's Syrian or American or from Europe or from Asia or Africa.

We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience.

I would say I need two things: the first one is to be objective in every statement he could make regarding any conflict around the world, including Syria. The second one is not to turn Secretary-General office into a part or branch of the State Department of the United States.

António Guterres role as Secretary-General in bringing all powers together is very essential` and we hope he can succeed, it's not easy of course.

This is the Middle East, where every week you have something new; so whatever you talk about this week will not be valuable next week.

As I said, this [repercussions] may take different forms : direct and indirect. Direct when people want to retaliate, or governments. Indirect when you're going to have instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the west directly.

The army is made of the people ; it cannot be made of robots.