Quotes About Syria

#1. In Damascus:
the traveler sings to himself:
I return from Syria
neither alive
nor dead
but as clouds
that ease the butterfly's burden
from my fugitive soul

Mahmoud Darwish

#2. Both sides in Syria are bad. One side is a brutal dictator, and the other includes Islamists and terrorists who are dangerous already and who would be brutal in power if given the chance.

Newt Gingrich

#3. Secretary [John] Kerry has called Civil War [in Syria] an unbelievably small war that we're going to get involved with.

Rand Paul

#4. I believe Western culture
rule of law, universal suffrage, etc.
is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria. Follow the traffic. I support immigration, but with assimilation.

Mark Steyn

#5. The Obama administration has been trying out a new policy toward Syria since the day it came to office. The Bush cold shoulder was viewed as a primitive reaction, now to be replaced by sophisticated diplomacy. Outreach would substitute for isolation.

Elliott Abrams

#6. I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.

Barack Obama

#7. I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform.

Ismail Haniyeh

#8. If [President Obama] does not go on the offensive against ISIS ... they are coming here. This is just not about Baghdad, this is just not about Syria, this is about our homeland. And if we get attacked because he has no strategy to protect us, then he will have committed a blunder for the ages.

Lindsey Graham

#9. Al Qaeda's message that violence, terrorism and extremism are the only answer for Arabs seeking dignity and hope is being rejected each day in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and throughout the Arab lands.

Elliott Abrams

#10. 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

#11. Israel specifically does not want Syria to hand over weapons, chemical or conventional, to Hezbollah.

Richard Engel

#12. 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

#13. St. Isaac of Syria says, "Anything that is easily found is also easily lost, whereas what is found after much labor will be guarded with vigilance."37

Joseph Huneycutt

#14. Iran's arms exports to the murderous Assad regime in Syria are of particular concern. As the Panel of Experts has concluded, Syria is now the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers.

Susan Rice

#15. The increased incidence of abductions represents a major challenge within the ongoing humanitarian crises. The kidnapped archbishops have suffered terribly, and their families have suffered immensely not knowing what has become of them.

Widad Akreyi

#16. Maybe it's the spy novelist in me looking for a future plot, but I hope the U.S. and its allies are thinking how to operate 'unconventionally' in Iraq and Syria in ways that undermine the Islamic State.

David Ignatius

#17. If we speak calmly, in a businesslike fashion, let me draw your attention to the fact that Russia supplies arms to the legitimate government of Syria in full compliance with the norms of international law. We are not breaching any rules and norms.

Vladimir Putin

#18. There's a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer.

Hillary Clinton

#19. It's very hard to understand just what our strategy is in Syria, frankly, and on Iraq that this is Iraq's war, that the role of the United States is to help Iraq, to arm, train, support, provide air support, but this has to be Iraq's war.

David Ignatius

#20. Religious distinctions are deeply important for many of the problems in today's Middle East, particularly between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Syria and Iraq.

Max Fisher

#21. For many foreign fighters, the jihad in Iraq and Syria is a commuter war.

Richard Engel

#22. We can only talk to those who opt for the sovereign, territorially integral, secular, multiethnic and multi-confessional Syria.

Sergei Lavrov

#23. We've seen what happened in Libya, what a disaster that's been driven by Hillary Clinton, and the disaster in Syria and almost disaster in Egypt. What a close call that's been. We're not out of the woods yet with Egypt.

Jeff Sessions

#24. Once upon a time, my mother lived in the posh downtown of Homs, Syria. She described my grandfather as a king in a storybook, atop a horse, wearing a didashah and pointing a long arm.

Mona Simpson

#25. 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

#26. I never thought that Syria and Israel should engage in a violent confrontation because I don't think that there is any particular interest for any of us to do it.

Ehud Olmert

#27. The church that took two thousand years to build in Iraq and Syria, started by the apostles themselves, has nearly been destroyed in the blink of an eye at the hands of manics who won't stop until they win or they die. At least that's what everyone I met in Iraq believes. Every single one of them.

Johnnie Moore

#28. Democracy or breakdown in Syria would change the whole Middle East overnight.

Paul Krugman

#29. Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

William Hague

#30. The cost of war is like an immeasurable tremor that knows no borders, its shockwaves reverberating across the world resulting in universal suffering.

Aysha Taryam

#31. Obama Authorizes IS Recon Flights in Syria

Anonymous

#32. Russia's actions in Syria are not the only reasons to distrust Mr. Putin. Moscow has opposed attempts by the U.N. in November 2011 to increase sanctions against Iran for its illicit nuclear program.

John Barrasso

#33. Forget the Syria debate; we need a debate on why we are always debating on whether to bomb someone. Because we're starting to look not so much like the world's police men but more like George Zimmerman. Itching to use force and then pretending it's because we had no choice.

Bill Maher

#34. We see nation-states collapsing all around us: Libya, Syria, Iraq. We do not want another failed state in our neighborhood, which would rapidly turn into a stronghold for terrorists, as we have seen in Gaza. We do not want tunnels to suburbs of Tel Aviv or missiles pointed at Jerusalem.

Ayelet Shaked

#35. There's a big film industry in Egypt, and quite a big one in Syria, and there's a big Muslim community in Paris.

Ridley Scott

#36. I think Syria is often covered by phone. You have to talk to activists. You have to try to read the tea leaves. You have to talk to government officials. It's remote-control reporting in a way.

Anthony Shadid

#37. The refugee in Syria doesn't benefit more if you conserve your kindness only for her and withhold it from your neighbor who's going through a divorce.

Brene Brown

#38. I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.

Roald Dahl

#39. Historically and geographically speaking, Gnosticism developed at the same time and in the same places as early Christianity, with which it was, and remained, entwined - Palestine, Syria, Samaria, and Anatolia, and later, Ptolemaic Egypt.

Stephan A. Hoeller

#40. I was against the Iraq war I was against the Afghan war I was against bombing Libya and Syria but to be quite honest and with a heavy heart because more innocent people are gonna be killed....We have to step in and help wipeout ISIS!

Cal Sarwar

#41. If gun free zones save lives, why doesn't Obama just declare Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan one big gun free zone?

Wayne LaPierre

#42. Israel is becoming a fortress. Fences along the borders with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.

Richard Engel

#43. Both Iraq and Syria are a fissile mixture of ethnicities and religions thrown together after Versailles by departing French and British imperialists and only kept together by Baathist tyranny and violence.

Michael Ignatieff

#44. I think Syria is in a particularly sensitive geopolitical position in terms of the politics of the Middle East.

Edward Luck

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

George Galloway

#46. The understanding of Syria's devastating civil war has been distorted by the immense danger and difficulty of covering it.

Nancy Gibbs

#47. The weapons that helped turn what had been initially peaceful demonstrations in Syria into ruthless civil war were delivered to Turkey with the USA's kind permission, either by ship in gigantic cargo containers or by air. From

Jurgen Todenhofer

#48. As the crisis in Syria grows and the humanitarian tragedy becomes more clear, I appreciated Prime Minister Netanyahu's perspective on the changes and volatility in the region.

Rob Portman

#49. Let there be no ambiguity about the American view that Syria's lack of cooperation .. is not acceptable.

John Bolton

#50. We're going to take out seven countries in 5 years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran

Wesley Clark

#51. The Syrian border town of Qa'im was the main gateway Islamic radicals used to go to Iraq. Syria became the passageway for extremists from Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations to fight a jihad against American forces in Iraq.

Richard Engel

#52. I am pleased though that there's a possibility of a diplomatic solution [in Syria]. I remain somewhat skeptical, but I am pleased that it's a possibility and I think people like myself who've been arguing for delaying this bombing, have allowed this diplomatic possibility to occur.

Rand Paul

#53. Peace with Syria would provide more security than a few settlements on the Golan.

Yitzhak Rabin

#54. I would only go to Syria to destroy ISIS. I would not use U.S. troops to depose Assad. But I would support the rebels there. It's okay to support those people who share your view. But for the United States to be embroiled in a civil war in Syria against [Bashr] Assad I think is a big mistake.

John Kasich

#55. It's when the 'international community' expresses 'concern' about your 'situation' that your situation is well and truly fucked.

Michael D. Weiss

#56. There is no one leader that's going to unify all of Syria that suddenly everyone is going to go, 'Yes, that's a logical place.' They're not unified. They don't have a setup succession like we do in the United States.

James Lankford

#57. We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.

Mohammed Morsi

#58. Finally, at two minutes to three, in the sweltering heat of a Mesopotamian summer afternoon, I crossed the no-man's land into Syria.

William Dalrymple

#59. Surely our inaction with respect to Syria is a poor precedent if we're fighting a war on terror.

Bill Kristol

#60. Because I know about the Holy Land, I've taught lessons about the Holy Land all my life, and - but you can't bring peace to Israel without giving the Palestinian also peace. And Lebanon and Jordan and Syria as well.

Jimmy Carter

#61. Syria is the proud heir of an ancient civilization that has a unique spectrum of minorities that encompasses Muslims and Christians of various denominations. There are at least ten such ethnic and religious groups.

Ahmed Zewail

#62. Today Syria, tomorrow your country.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

#63. It is not enough to defend our values at home, in our newspapers and in our institutions. We also have to defend them in the refugee camps of the Middle East, and the ruined ghost towns of Syria.

Angelina Jolie

#64. The presence of jihadis in Syria should be no surprise.

Elliott Abrams

#65. An intelligence officer from a Middle Eastern country neighboring Syria told me that ISIS members say they are always pleased when sophisticated weapons are sent to anti-Assad groups of any kind, because they can always get the arms off them by threats of force or cash payments.

Patrick Cockburn

#66. Any Israeli attack on Lebanon, Iran, Syria or Gaza will be met with a fierce response.

Hassan Nasrallah

#67. Syria is already in the grips of a civil war, unfortunately enough, and Egypt is moving in that direction. We would like to see the Egyptian people avoid this fate

Vladimir Putin

#68. Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history,

Antonio Guterres

#69. Syria may appear to be a small country, but it is just the type of entangled conflict that can lead to a world catastrophe. It does not take much imagination to see Syria as the Sarajevo of the 21st century, leading to world war.

Ahmed Zewail

#70. Lebanon is restless, Syria got its walking papers, Egypt is scheduling elections with more than one candidate, and even Saudi Arabia, whose rulers are perhaps more terrified of women than rulers anywhere else in the world, allowed limited municipal elections.

Suzanne Fields

#71. I kept seeing turning points. First the uprising. Then the creation of the Free Syrian Army, the FSA. Now a big assassination bombing in the heart of Assad's government. But the turn never came. It just got worse and worse.

Richard Engel

#72. 1945-1990 - Russophobia
1990-2015 - Islamophobia
2015- ?? - Russophobia AND Islamophobia.
Isnt it time the MI Complex created a new bogey-man?

Arindam Mukherjee

#73. Syria doesn't want to talk with us on a bilateral basis, only under the auspices of the United States.

Yitzhak Rabin

#74. We have evidence that a number of Bahrainis who oppose our government are being trained in Syria. I have seen the files and we have notified the Syrian authorities, but they deny any involvement.

Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa

#75. 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

#76. We appreciate the efforts of the United States, of the president, of the secretary of state, and we are ready to find any form of talks, but we have to overcome the differences between Syria and Israel to reach peace.

Yitzhak Rabin

#77. They [muslims] are chopping off heads in Syria. Christianity is under siege. I'm Protestant, Presbyterian, and I'm proud of it. Other religions frankly are banding together, we need to band together.

Donald Trump

#78. You left them alone and they grew too strong for thee. Hadst fought them as a man, thou couldst have conquered them and been one, honored among thy townspeople. But thou had not the soul to fight them and behold thou hast gone down until thou art a slave in Syria.

George S. Clason

#79. There was a president imposed by Syria. Our battle ... is to have a Lebanese president that we elect.

Walid Jumblatt

#80. Forgiveness, dialogue, reconciliation - these are the words of peace, in beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world

Pope Francis

#81. It is no exaggeration to say that Syria holds the key for nearly all of America's foreign policy goals in the Middle East. As Syria goes, so goes the region.

Reza Aslan

#82. Syria is a multi-confessional state: in addition to Sunni and Shia Muslims, there are Alawites, Orthodox and other Christian confessions, Druzes, and Kurds.

Sergei Lavrov

#83. I am part of a network of people monitoring what's happening at ancient sites in Iraq and Syria - from space. We can see clearly the destruction.

Sarah Parcak

#84. Turkey will not let Turkish territory or airspace be used in any activity that could harm the security or safety of Syria.

Ali Babacan

#85. We're having this conflict in Syria is because [Vladimir] Putin wants to take Iranian oil and channel that oil up to Europe.

Andrea Tantaros

#86. I am encouraged President Obama now says he will fulfill his constitutional obligation to seek authorization for any potential military action in Syria. This is the most important decision any President or any Senator must make, and it deserves vigorous debate

Rand Paul

#87. Before statehood was achieved, Syria and Egypt had their tanks and military equipment lined up to invade Tel Aviv and destroy it; but the Israelis scrambled together an air force, some of it from old Second World War Messerschmidts, and the invasion was halted.

Steven Spielberg

#88. We open our door, and we are still committed to open our door for our brothers in Syria. But doesn't mean that we should not keep alone. The international community should really - should really share Lebanon the numbers of refugees and share Lebanon the cost of their living.

Najib Mikati

#89. Bear in mind North Korea has been the leading source, a leading source of nuclear technology and of missile delivery systems to some of the world's great rogues in Iran and Syria.

Robert McFarlane

#90. We know that there are various activities important to the insurgents in Iraq that are occurring in Syria.

Douglas Feith

#91. If a close ally of Iran like Syria went to Iran and said, 'This peace is in our interest,' what do you think would they do? I can tell you they have never opposed any of our peace moves since 1991.

Walid Muallem

#92. Hezbollah is not a mammoth force, there is only so much they can do in Syria. Iranian role more critical for the regime.

Ziad K. Abdelnour

#93. What I'm trying to do, and my policy, is to disassociate, to shy away from what's going on in Syria.

Najib Mikati

#94. There are different opinions across the Middle East of Al-Jazeera. They've been kicked out of Egypt and Jordan and then let back in; they've been totally banned from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria.

Jehane Noujaim

#95. We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go, as I say, more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights.

William Hague

#96. Assad has to go. I mean, the way that ISIS can recruit, and the rebels that are in the north, and all the chaos that's happening through a lot of Syria circles around a lot of people that do not like Assad.

James Lankford

#97. The threat that Syria might transfer more advanced weapons to Hezbollah has existed for a long time.

Elliott Abrams

#98. Our priority is to go after ISIL. And so what we have said is that we are not engaging in a military action against the Syrian regime. We are going after ISIL facilities and personnel who are using Syria as a safe haven, in service of our strategy in Iraq.

Barack Obama

#99. Recent action in Syria and Palestine also tell us that the awakening voices of democracy in those regions are occurring, and that those in that region are able to pursue it without being stifled by terrorists that are despotic.

Judd Gregg

#100. It's difficult to see how Syria can have any long-term future with Assad there as president. Many people would never return to that country if that were the case.

George Osborne