The former spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the government of the ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Jihad Maqdisi, said that the Houla massacre in the Homs countryside was the beginning of his rebellion against al-Assad and his regime, stressing that he had witnessed crimes committed by officials in his regime, while pointing out that the two former foreign ministers, Walid Al-Muallem and Faisal Al-Miqdad were advocates of a security solution against the demonstrators in Syria.
Maqdisi served as spokesman for the regime’s government for about a year, from the beginning of 2012, until his defection at the end of it. He was the first diplomatic figure to hold that new position at the time, as it had not previously existed. During his tenure in office, the regime forces and its sectarian militias committed the Houla massacre in the Homs countryside, in May of the same year, in which about 54 people were killed, including children, some of whom were slaughtered with knives.
Round massacre
In an interview with Al-Arabi TV, Maqdisi recounted how the Assad regime tried to evade committing the Houla massacre, and denied it in a naive way, after popular and international anger towards it, pointing out that he tried not to go out to the media to justify the massacre at the time, and he did not expect that he would be asked to go out to justify it.
He added that the massacre was the beginning of the signs of his rebellion against the ousted regime, and its president, Bashar al-Assad, who was touched by that rebellion, pointing out that he personally asked the latter to have a figure leave the Ministry of Defense to deny the massacre, but al-Assad responded by not having trained people.
Maqdisi stressed that none of the regime’s ministers and figures, including the late Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, dared to go out to the media to justify the regime’s actions, until the Russian intervention, as those figures were encouraged and fierce in defending Assad.
He pointed out that Al-Muallem was one of the “hawks” in insisting on using the security solution against the demonstrators, contrary to what appears from his character, while he pointed out that his successor, Faisal Al-Miqdad, was also like that, and the latter used to direct insults against the demonstrators from his governorate in Daraa, to show His loyalty.
He also pointed out that Al-Assad was telling him that Al-Miqdad was a person who could not be developed, and he insulted him in a closed meeting between them, but Maqdisi considered that Al-Miqdad’s appointment to the position of Foreign Minister was based on loyalty, because in Al-Assad’s system, appointments were made based on loyalty and not competence. According to Maqdisi.
Witness crimes
During his interview, Maqdisi spoke about the fact that he had witnessed two crimes committed by officials in the Assad regime and their children, stressing that he would meet the current Attorney General in Syria, to testify about that, when he arrived in Damascus, but he refused to reveal the identity of the officials, while his interlocutor, Anas Azraq, hinted that One of the two crimes was committed by a former ambassador to the regime. Makdisi explained that one of the two crimes was committed against a person who disagreed with the official’s son on Facebook.
He pointed out that the security and political environment of the ousted regime was “contrived and denied reality,” and crimes were being committed around him, while he was forced to come out and justify them, pointing out that the Assad regime tried to transform his position from a diplomatic position to a military spokesman.
Chemical weapons
Among what Maqdisi narrated was the scenes of his famous press conference in July 2012, in which he announced that the Assad regime possessed an arsenal of internationally banned chemical and bacterial weapons. He stressed at the time that this weapon was completely secure, and would not be used unless Syria was exposed to external aggression. . This was the first time the regime admitted that it possessed this type of weapon.
He explained that he received a call from Walid Al-Muallem at that time, and he asked him, after summoning him and meeting him, to come out with his press conference to announce this, based on directives from Al-Assad, and a request from the Russian side, with the aim of reassuring the United States.
However, after the statement ended, Al-Assad contacted him personally and was angry. He denied that he had directed that conference. He also described the teacher’s mistake as “not committed by a primary school student,” and Al-Assad confirmed to Maqdisi that he “rebuked the teacher.”
Maqdisi said that Al-Assad boycotted the teacher for about 20 days, and he was the link between them during that period, to convey directives and requests between them, stressing that had it not been for the current situation in the country at the time, in light of the Syrian revolution, Al-Assad would have ousted the teacher from his position.
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