Al Assad Quotes

#1. Russia went into Syria basically to support President Bashar al-Assad. And the Western allies have said Russia's really done very little against ISIS. For his part, Putin said Russia's open to stronger cooperation, and he supports Frances's effort to build a strong anti-terror coalition.

Corey Flintoff

#2. Bashar al-Assad and those who still stand by him are now responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 in Syria.

Susan Rice

#3. In an odd way, we have really destroyed two of our strongest allies against the Islamists. Saddam Hussein, and we've probably fatally undermined Bashir al Assad in Syria.

Michael Scheuer

#4. Syria is lucky to have Bashar al-Assad as her President.

George Galloway

#5. IS [Islamic State] has played a major role in helping Bashar al-Assad to reposition Syria on the international scene. Now, it is almost impossible to come up with a solution that would exclude him. The political game appears to be very cynical indeed.

Tariq Ramadan

#6. There must be pressure on Moscow so that we have negotiations. Moscow will not succeed by unilaterally backing Bashar al-Assad.

Francois Hollande

#7. Well, I think the U.S. has been careful not to go too far in attacking Iran's allies, in particular in attacking Hezbollah forces in Syria, which have been propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

David Ignatius

#8. I still think a reasonable question is, would we be better off with [Muamar] Gadhafi and Bashar al-Assad still in there and Mubarak still there and Saddam [Hussein] there than the crap we have got looking at us now?

Chris Matthews

#9. It is always an eerie experience to sit among Bashar al-Assad's soldiers.

Robert Fisk

#10. A majority of the Syrian people believe in the regime and support Bashar al-Assad.

Hassan Nasrallah

#11. Turkey wants to see Bashar al-Assad go and wants to kind of expand its sphere of influence into Turkey so its Ottoman glory or Ottoman past are once again project into the Syrian provinces. That's kind of what Turkey's vision is.

Richard Engel

#12. In Syria, if [Bashar al-] Assad had just been a statesman and handed over the reigns in time, Syria would not be heading down the nightmare that it is today.

Richard Branson

#13. Russia is emerging as an essential diplomatic and security partner for the U.S. in Syria, despite the Obama administration's opposition to Moscow's support for President Bashar al-Assad.

David Ignatius

#14. Senator Kerry was fooled by Bashar al-Assad.

Elliott Abrams

#15. Our only goal is to strengthen the opposition and to avoid the dilemma whereby we only have the choice between Bashar Assad and al-Qaeda.

Francois Hollande

#16. President Bashar Assad's regime is in the unique position of being targeted both by Israel and supporters of al Qaeda.

Richard Engel