SYRIATV — broadcast
20261102 183000 UTC
413 transcript segments
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[00:00:00] Isn't this
[00:00:00] the political and diplomatic contrary to what he was proposing,
[00:00:03] that the advisor should be hierarchical and that he should
[00:00:07] progress in the ministry until he reaches this position?
[00:00:11] In short, the hierarchy of the advisor is not
[00:00:14] necessarily I said experience, and I didn't say
[00:00:17] hierarchy. I mean, you are repeating the word hierarchy, which I didn't say.
[00:00:21] I only said experience.
[00:00:23] I mean progressive employee
[00:00:26] from the beginning of my entry into the ministry
[00:00:36] Wait, wait a minute. What I want to get at
[00:00:39] is that the word "advisor" does not necessarily
[00:00:42] refer to an administrative position or
[00:00:46] an absolute advisory position, but rather
[00:00:49] it is a position that combines
[00:00:52] references in law kinship ties
[00:00:55] and the bonds of affection among
[00:00:59] the components of the Syrian people.
[00:01:02] It also deals with solving complex problems
[00:01:05] on the ground. This is the basis of this story,
[00:01:09] and our assessment is that this appointment is
[00:01:12] a political appointment with
[00:01:14] social backgrounds,
[00:01:18] due to major complex problems now, especially after the Jordan
[00:01:21] crisis. We don't want to go into too much detail
[00:01:24] and escalate the problems so that
[00:01:28] it is
[00:01:33] positions, including member of
[00:01:36] believed that the executive scope and the files entrusted to Ms. Muzna
[00:01:40] are not only related to Sweida, meaning Jordan
[00:01:42] and other than Jordan and relations with Israel, or are they only for Sweida
[00:01:46] as I mentioned at the beginning? Yes, I believe that the selection
[00:01:50] of this personality, regardless
[00:01:51] and international scene. of the controversy that occurred, can play
[00:01:55] multiple roles in many
[00:01:58] Well, in many files, and I repeat
[00:02:02] that the essence of this appointment is that she is from Sweida
[00:02:05] and from the Al-Atrash family. Why don't you take this into
[00:02:09] meetings took place last account, and she is also Asmahan's granddaughter?
[00:02:12] Thank you very much. Okay, okay. Okay, thank you very much, Dr.
[00:02:16] Ahmed Toumeh, politician and academic from Damascus, and my thanks to Professor Bassam
[00:02:20] Al-Amadi, former Syrian Ambassador to Sweden.
[00:02:22] especially in the legal You were with us from Rome.
[00:02:26] Pakistan? What is the danger of that We continue with you on Syria Today, and after the break, we will discuss
[00:02:28] how Damascus will build
[00:02:32] any army in the world, or at its military capabilities in light of escalating tensions.
[00:02:44] and if the alliances at the
[00:02:51] oh homes in After that, Al-Kuzbari decided to work in
[00:02:56] offered by these allies homes in
[00:03:12] Israeli aircraft flying in
[00:03:15] What does that mean
[00:03:33] adapt to
[00:03:35] so bad that they cannot
[00:03:42] Now to this
[00:03:54] in is broader
[00:04:07] it get S-400 missiles from
[00:04:13] We are sitting inside, and someone is spinning around here. We cry over him, by God.
[00:04:17] We hear the pain of the bones that are breaking.
[00:04:18] تتكسر
[00:04:27] Every blanket I smell, I feel like there's
[00:04:32] to form a complete picture
[00:04:35] before the great Syrian torture. You don't know if you'll come back alive or
[00:04:39] dead.
[00:04:45] I remember hearing the gray hairs cracking
[00:04:47] in my head.
[00:04:52] towards its Arab The soul that is tormented is the one that does not
[00:04:56] have radars, go away.
[00:05:03] We reap these fruits. Do you rely on
[00:05:19] Questions are increasing regarding the country's security
[00:05:22] and military future and the opportunities to build the Syrian army's capabilities,
[00:05:25] especially with the increase in foreign air violations,
[00:05:28] particularly the violations by the Israeli
[00:05:31] occupation, which has increased its air sorties
[00:05:34] and ground incursions. Despite the lifting of American
[00:05:38] sanctions, there is ambiguity regarding
[00:05:41] the paths that Damascus is following in building
[00:05:44] its defensive and military capabilities,
[00:05:47] as well as regarding the challenges facing Syria, with the exception of the relationship with
[00:05:51] Turkey and its support for security capabilities. It is not yet
[00:05:54] clear that there are other countries that can be relied
[00:05:58] upon to arm
[00:05:59] Syria.
[00:06:02] Unknown aircraft are flying in southern Syria, and sounds of
[00:06:06] unknown explosions. No one knows what happened on Sunday evening
[00:06:10] and at different times.
[00:06:13] I swear by Almighty God, with the absence of official statements explaining
[00:06:17] some events, narratives
[00:06:20] and stories compete on social media after every sound is heard,
[00:06:24] but this brings many questions to the forefront
[00:06:27] about Syrian defensive capabilities
[00:06:30] and what it possesses in terms of detecting and tracking
[00:06:33] attacks.
[00:06:36] The series of Israeli attacks that targeted
[00:06:40] airports and military air bases in Syria,
[00:06:43] the latest of which was in August when the runway of
[00:06:46] Abu al-Duhur military airport in the eastern Idlib countryside was targeted,
[00:06:50] as well as the recent Jordanian attacks in southern Syria,
[00:06:54] all of this puts Syria in a difficult predicament that is difficult to resolve with
[00:06:58] the complexities of the regional
[00:07:04] On the political front, diplomacy is moving to Ankara,
[00:07:07] Riyadh, and Arab and Western capitals,
[00:07:11] and once reached Pakistan. Although its goals are vague
[00:07:15] to the public, reports indicate that
[00:07:18] among its objectives is to search for a solution to the armament and defense
[00:07:22] crisis.
[00:07:25] In the face of the equation of rapprochement between Damascus and Washington, and between
[00:07:29] Damascus and European capitals, the complexities of
[00:07:32] any military rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing emerge, while
[00:07:36] Israel fights to prevent any Turkish military presence or support
[00:07:39] for the new Syria. So how does Damascus
[00:07:43] move to overcome these complexities? What are the most appropriate options
[00:07:46] for building defensive capabilities, and what are the repercussions of
[00:07:50] failing to build these capabilities on the future
[00:07:52] of the country?
[00:07:55] For discussion, I have Colonel Hisham Mustafa, military
[00:07:59] and strategic expert, live from Aleppo. Welcome. And I have Dr.
[00:08:03] Muhammad Bakr, writer on political affairs, live
[00:08:06] from Berlin. Welcome to you too. I'll start with Colonel
[00:08:10] Hisham Mustafa. Yesterday, we heard about unknown air sorties,
[00:08:13] and so far, no one knows who is behind
[00:08:17] them over Daraa. This is in addition to repeated Israeli
[00:08:21] incursions and violations, and also
[00:08:25] Syrian airspace.
[00:08:28] militarily for Syrian air defenses, Colonel
[00:08:31] Hisham?
[00:08:34] Good evening, Ms. Alaa, and good evening to the viewers of
[00:08:37] Syria TV and my esteemed guest. Of course, we know well
[00:08:41] that Israel, after the fall of Bashar
[00:08:44] al-Assad's regime, within hours, launched
[00:08:47] a fierce air campaign
[00:08:50] that aimed to destroy
[00:08:54] the largest part of the army's
[00:08:57] capabilities. It targeted airports,
[00:09:00] air defense systems, and many weapons
[00:09:04] and ammunition storage centers that the fallen
[00:09:08] regime's army possessed and that
[00:09:11] belong to the Syrian people. These attacks
[00:09:14] were continuous and occurred with frequency
[00:09:18] after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Consequently,
[00:09:21] they stripped the Syrian Arab Republic of its defensive
[00:09:25] capabilities to a great
[00:09:27] extent. This led to Israeli
[00:09:31] recklessness without
[00:09:34] the Syrian army being able
[00:09:38] to counter Israel's air
[00:09:41] superiority.
[00:09:45] We all know that all anti-aircraft missiles were destroyed or before the Assad regime fell it had
[00:09:49] been smuggled in one way or another
[00:09:52] to Hezbollah through the Lebanese-Syrian
[00:09:56] border. Also,
[00:09:59] what... I mean, does this mean that Syria today is unable
[00:10:03] to detect enemy aircraft and track them? I mean, it doesn't
[00:10:09] meaning in simpler popular terms. It does have radars, but
[00:10:13] Madam, what is the use of radars if there are no air defense systems?
[00:10:17] The air defense systems that the Syrian Arab
[00:10:20] Army currently possesses are systems that
[00:10:24] cannot reach the level of protecting
[00:10:27] Syrian airspace from Israeli
[00:10:30] air sorties. No,
[00:10:34] we cannot think that Syria has air defense capabilities
[00:10:37] that enable it to confront
[00:10:41] Israeli aircraft that violate
[00:10:44] Syrian airspace almost
[00:10:47] repeatedly. No, we cannot
[00:10:50] imagine that there are capabilities that can
[00:10:54] deter them. There are capabilities that can deter
[00:10:58] these violations, but the question is what are the available capabilities?
[00:11:02] Well, the available capabilities,
[00:11:05] as far as I know, are
[00:11:09] simple capabilities, meaning air defense anti-aircraft
[00:11:12] that do not rise to being advanced anti-aircraft
[00:11:16] that can confront the Israeli air force, which
[00:11:19] is a very advanced American weapon. Even
[00:11:22] countries that possess an arsenal
[00:11:25] of air defense systems failed to shoot down these
[00:11:29] aircraft or prevent
[00:11:32] them from penetrating. The question is not about Syria's ability to shoot down these
[00:11:36] aircraft, Colonel Hisham, but the question is
[00:11:40] about where the
[00:11:42] capabilities of the Syrian army have
[00:11:46] reached, or where they are now. What does the Syrian army possess?
[00:11:49] I know these questions are difficult to answer,
[00:11:52] but these questions are also being raised: What is
[00:11:55] left today? What should be built upon for the
[00:11:58] capabilities of the Syrian army? Madam, these answers
[00:12:01] are not difficult to answer. Any expert can
[00:12:05] answer them. We all know that the Syrian army,
[00:12:09] after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, had all its power
[00:12:13] centers destroyed, which were
[00:12:16] considered somewhat advanced weapons,
[00:12:19] such as MiG aircraft and helicopters,
[00:12:22] and also some missiles that remained
[00:12:26] from the era of the defunct regime from the era of the defunct regime
[00:12:30] after cutting off artillery, after cutting off tanks, I mean, but
[00:12:34] today, if we want to speak precisely,
[00:12:37] even the capabilities of the regime's army were not
[00:12:40] those good
[00:12:44] capabilities. The support was Russian, and the combat doctrine in
[00:12:48] Syria was the doctrine of the former Soviet Union, and later the doctrine of
[00:12:51] Russia. And Russia is known for not giving
[00:12:57] least let's say it was not giving the Syrian army, the regime's army,
[00:13:01] advanced capabilities that would enable
[00:13:04] it to overcome Israel. I mean, there was a veto
[00:13:07] on giving certain types of weapons, and therefore all the weapons that were given to the regime's
[00:13:11] army during the era of the fallen regime of the criminal Bashar al-Assad
[00:13:14] were considered to be of the third or
[00:13:17] fourth level, and therefore could not confront Israeli
[00:13:20] aircraft. In recent times, Syria even received
[00:13:24] S
[00:13:26] missiles, but despite this delay and shortcomings in arming
[00:13:30] the Syrian army of the former regime,
[00:13:33] Israel or the Israeli occupation state was keen to destroy and target
[00:13:37] many military locations. Why, or what
[00:13:40] was being targeted?
[00:13:43] Of course, I am not saying that the capabilities were so bad
[00:13:47] that they were non-existent, otherwise
[00:13:50] Israel would not have bothered
[00:13:53] to destroy them. These are capabilities that are not
[00:13:57] good, but also not
[00:14:00] confront them. Today, we can confront aircraft
[00:14:03] and raise their altitude if they try to fly
[00:14:06] low. The army can
[00:14:09] raise this aircraft and
[00:14:12] force it to fly at high
[00:14:16] altitudes with ground anti-aircraft,
[00:14:19] such as medium machine guns. Madam, I want to get to
[00:14:22] a point. You had a question.
[00:14:26] I did not answer it. You
[00:14:29] asked how we can develop this capability.
[00:14:33] I will come to the issue of development in a moment, Dr.
[00:14:36] Muhammad. My guest mentioned that the Syrian
[00:14:40] army was previously armed by Russia and also
[00:14:44] had a Russian doctrine, or
[00:14:47] rather, an Eastern one, as they say. Today, how can
[00:14:50] the absence of Russia from the equation of arming
[00:14:53] the Syrian army be compensated? Where should
[00:14:56] Damascus turn?
[00:14:58] Yes, first of all, greetings to you, your guest, and the viewers of
[00:15:02] Syria TV. I believe that today, after almost two years of liberation,
[00:15:05] and after the Syrian presidency has taken a specific political
[00:15:09] stance, and this is its right, it was not
[00:15:13] natural for it to remain in the same positions that the former
[00:15:16] or fallen regime was in. However, today,
[00:15:20] I believe that after two years, things have become clear.
[00:15:23] النقاط على الحروف.
[00:15:26] The options have become clearer for the Syrian presidency.
[00:15:30] When the Syrian presidency went towards Washington
[00:15:33] and opened
[00:15:38] horizons with President Trump specifically,
[00:15:40] these visits did not reflect anything on the ground.
[00:15:44] Their political and even military
[00:15:48] outcome was zero. All the American blessings
[00:15:51] for President Ahmed Sharra's arrival to the presidency and all the descriptions
[00:15:55] that Trump used for President Sharra ultimately
[00:15:58] had no effect on the ground. Today, you
[00:16:01] asked how we can compensate for the absence of Russia.
[00:16:04] I believe that after this political experience that
[00:16:08] the Syrian presidency has gone through, the biggest compensation
[00:16:10] for the absence of Russia is to return to the Russians,
[00:16:14] because today you are talking about major
[00:16:16] challenges.
[00:16:19] Of course, this is the only option, and I will
[00:16:22] tell you why it is the only option. Today,
[00:16:25] Turkey played an important regional
[00:16:28] role in helping the current Syrian state and in
[00:16:32] helping President Sharra personally reach the presidency.
[00:16:35] However, this also did not
[00:16:37] have real effects in the equation of confrontation with
[00:16:41] Israel, and you know that Turkey, Pakistan,
[00:16:44] and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca alliance agreement, and today
[00:16:48] Saudi Arabia is being shelled by Iran,
[00:16:51] and Iranian missiles are reaching inside
[00:16:54] Saudi Arabia. What did the Mecca alliance do?
[00:16:57] Nothing. I mean, it is not expected, even if it was said
[00:17:00] that Syria joined the Mecca alliance, what will
[00:17:04] be the effects of this alliance inside Syria? There is no talk, as
[00:17:07] I mentioned, about this point, what is the point of talking about the possibility of Syria joining
[00:17:11] the Mecca alliance in order to build its military
[00:17:15] capabilities? Today, we are talking, as your
[00:17:19] guest said, about Israeli recklessness in the fullest
[00:17:22] sense of the word. Complete recklessness. Today,
[00:17:26] Syrian sovereignty has become violated. If all
[00:17:29] that happened was patience within the framework of strategic patience,
[00:17:32] then I believe that the time has come for this patience to
[00:17:36] run out. The Syrian presidency must today move
[00:17:39] towards effective options towards Russia, and it
[00:17:42] knows this well, and you know that military
[00:17:47] year, specifically in October, in December 2025,
[00:17:51] how the Syrian Chief of Staff, Ali Al-Naasan, met. But what is the danger of turning
[00:17:54] to Russia or to China as well,
[00:17:58] as was reported in some news, through a mediator, which is
[00:18:03] also to the political relations that Syria tried to weave in the previous period?
[00:18:09] I mean, we are talking, does the matter amount to a
[00:18:12] danger if the current alliances of the Syrian
[00:18:15] presidency were with the United States of America,
[00:18:18] specifically with Trump,
[00:18:22] regional and Arab levels had borne fruit during
[00:18:25] the past two years, we would be talking about
[00:18:29] a level of deterrence and great "no's"
[00:18:34] whom we rely on to position ourselves in alliance
[00:18:37] with. If they had borne real deterrence against Israel,
[00:18:41] we would have talked about the danger if the Syrian
[00:18:44] presidency had turned to other options. But as I told you,
[00:18:47] this relationship and this American praise cannot deter
[00:18:50] Israel with strong political
[00:18:54] speeches. It cannot deter Netanyahu and deter
[00:18:57] this very important thing. Colonel Hisham, I want to conclude with
[00:19:00] you and hear your comment on
[00:19:03] all this political flirtation between the new Syria
[00:19:07] and the United States of America. It's all for nothing, so we must return
[00:19:11] to Moscow. What do you think?
[00:19:15] Madam, there is a proverb that says, "What the bald woman took, the hairy woman will take too,"
[00:19:19] as our Egyptian brothers say. What
[00:19:21] did the former regime, which was
[00:19:24] considered a very important pillar
[00:19:31] power for 14 years, achieve despite all the massacres
[00:19:35] because of Russian and Iranian support?
[00:19:37] What did it get? Did
[00:19:41] it get advanced weapons? Did
[00:19:44] the Russians? Did it get very advanced aircraft?
[00:19:48] No, it didn't. Yes, there was support, and because of international
[00:19:51] understandings, it was able to remain in power
[00:19:55] for 50 years, him and his father. This cannot
[00:19:57] be denied. But I am talking here from a military
[00:20:01] perspective. I was an officer in the former
[00:20:05] regime's army before I defected from it.
[00:20:08] What were the capabilities of this army even
[00:20:12] revolution? So you don't agree with my guest, Dr. Muhammad, regarding
[00:20:16] No, it's not possible, and it's not possible
[00:20:19] for Russia today to support this army
[00:20:23] because the Ministry of Defense today
[00:20:26] has orientations
[00:20:29] surroundings. We should not think
[00:20:32] or judge that what happened through
[00:20:36] communication with the United States of America should immediately bear fruit.
[00:20:41] the path taken so far, Colonel Hisham Mustafa, military
[00:20:44] and strategic expert from Aleppo? Thank you very much. I thank Dr. Muhammad Bakr,
[00:20:48] the writer on political affairs. He was with us from
[00:20:51] Berlin.
[00:20:53] Our thanks to you, dear viewers, for your kind follow-up. Syria Today
[00:20:57] has ended. See you later.
[00:25:50] Maamoun al-Kuzbari, Maamoun
[00:25:53] al-Kuzbari, the academic lawyer, the interim
[00:25:57] president during the secession era,
[00:26:00] the prime minister who aligned with
[00:26:03] the military. Maamoun al-Kuzbari was born in
[00:26:06] 1914
[00:26:09] in Damascus. He belonged to an ancient Damascene family,
[00:26:13] many of whose members were religious scholars and hadith scholars.
[00:26:16] Al-Kuzbari studied in schools in Damascus
[00:26:20] and Beirut, then moved to the University of Lyon
[00:26:24] in France to study international law.
[00:26:27] After graduating, he returned to Beirut and worked in
[00:26:31] a lawyer's office until
[00:26:34] 1943,
[00:26:37] when he left Beirut for Damascus to practice
[00:26:40] law in his city. Al-Kuzbari taught at the Faculty of Law, Damascus
[00:26:44] University, in addition to his work as a lawyer,
[00:26:48] and authored many legal books,
[00:26:51] which are still
[00:26:55] and legislation studied by students
[00:26:58] and referred to by professors.
[00:27:07] Al-Kuzbari became involved in politics early on, alongside
[00:27:11] his academic and legal work.
[00:27:14] He worked with Colonel Adib al-Shishakli, who carried out
[00:27:17] his first coup in
[00:27:19] 1949.
[00:27:22] He then co-founded the Arab Liberation Party in
[00:27:25] the early 1950s and served as the party's
[00:27:29] Secretary-General during that period. He also held several
[00:27:33] important administrative
[00:27:36] Parliament, interim President of the Republic in
[00:27:39] 1954, and President of Damascus
[00:27:42] University in
[00:27:44] 1956.
[00:27:46] He then took over the Ministry of Justice in the mid-1950s.
[00:27:49] الخمسينيات
[00:27:55] Al-Kuzbari initially supported unity with Egypt
[00:27:58] and was among the delegation that went to meet
[00:28:01] Abdel Nasser in Cairo to agree on unity,
[00:28:05] but he later supported the coup against the unity
[00:28:09] state in
[00:28:10] 1961.
[00:28:14] After the secession coup, the coup leaders asked him
[00:28:18] to take over the presidency temporarily, then the premiership,
[00:28:20] due to his experience,
[00:28:25] field, as he had to amend
[00:28:28] the Syrian constitution to suit the new
[00:28:31] circumstances. Until the Ba'athists carried out their coup on March
[00:28:35] 8, 1963,
[00:28:36] 1963
[00:28:39] when he was forced to leave the country
[00:28:42] for France.
[00:28:51] Morocco, where he taught at its universities, and he is
[00:28:55] credited with Arabizing education there, after it used
[00:28:59] to be taught in French. In
[00:29:03] 1996,
[00:29:06] Al-Kuzbari returned to Lebanon and lived there until
[00:29:09] he passed away in
[00:29:10] 1998,
[00:29:13] where he was buried in the family cemetery in
[00:29:16] Damascus.
[00:29:21] Maamoun al-Kuzbari left an undeniable impact in the legislative
[00:29:25] and legal fields. However, the man, influenced by French
[00:29:28] law and constitution and the French
[00:29:31] political system, did not
[00:29:36] the prevailing military climate, so he dedicated
[00:29:39] the last quarter century of his life as an academic professor.
[00:30:49] When people's affairs are managed from a place far from them,
[00:30:53] solutions may be delayed, and the needs of cities
[00:30:56] and regions remain outside the circle of attention. From here,
[00:30:59] the discussion arises about centralization and decentralization
[00:31:02] of administration and about expanding the powers.