US, West liable for provoking Syria crisis: Diplomat

Syrian Ambassador to Tehran Adnan Mahmoud has held the United States, its Western allies and certain countries in the Middle East accountable for provoking the ongoing crisis in Syria.
The US, West and some regional countries shoulder responsibility for the existing crisis in Syria and the killing of the Syrian and Iraqi people, Mahmoud told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.
Since the outset of the war in Syria, Damascus has warned against the spread of terrorism in the region, he said, urging the international community to take serious action to counter terrorists and to make countries that support them stop the flow of weapons and financial assistance to terrorist groups.
He emphasized that Syria has been fighting the Western-backed Takfiri groups over the past three years.
Mahmoud stated that Takfiri terrorists sought to weaken Syria, divide the country and undermine resistance in the Middle East, but the US, the West and certain regional countries failed to break the will of the Syrian people.
The Syrian diplomat said terrorism has turned into a “big threat” to nations in the region and across the world, emphasizing that the US and the West are directly responsible for that.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. Over 160,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by the foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists.
According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are supporting the Takfiris fighting the legitimate government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.