Puccinin, the recently freed Belgian hostage, declares: "Al Assad is not behind the gas attacks!"

The Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin da Prate and Domenico Quirico, a journalist at La Stampa, both kidnapped in Syria in April 2013 by the Syrian rebels (whose main military arm is Jabhat Al-nusra which closely linked to Al Qaeda), were released on Sunday (8/9/2013).

 

During his interview with RTL-TVI, Piccinin indicated that it is the Syrian rebels and not the Syrian regime who used the sarin gas (in Al Ghouta). Puccini held on strongly to his statement especially when told that Quirico denies being that certain of this fact. He then insisted that it would be suicidal for the West to support the extremists who now lead the so-called Syrian revolution.

 

Puccini, who was a strong supporter of the Syrian rebels at the beginning of the uprise in 2011, said that "it is a moral duty to relay such information. It is not the Government of Bashar Al-Assad which used sarin gas , or any other gas, in the outskirts of Damascus. We are certain of this fact since we overheard a shocking conversation between the Syrian rebels. My statement comes at a high personal cost since I used to support the Free Syrian Army in their just struggle for democracy."

 

On the other hand, Domenico Quirico said "One day, we overheard a conversation in English via Skype between three men through the door of the room in which we were imprisoned. In this conversation, the men said that the gas attacks in the two districts of Damascus were committed by the rebels as a provocation to push the West to launch an attack on Syria". He also said that he is not sure of "the reliability nor the identity of the persons involved in this conversation. "I cannot assert whether this conversation was based on real facts or on a rumor. It is folly to claim that I know that it is not Assad who used the gas."

 

Puccinin, in response to Quirico's suspicions, said: "I'm a little bit surprised because we were together when we heard this conversation. It involved the Free Syrian Army general who was holding prisoners and a militant from Al-Farouq brigade. It was clear that, according to this conversation, Al-Assad's regime is not responsible for the gas attacks gas based on which the world shall decide whether or not to attack the regime of Bashar Al-Assad."

 

Puccinin, and in response to questions from Michel De Maegd, reiterated that, according to the two men, no, it is not the regime "of Al-Assad who is behind this attack". The Belgian ex-hostage continued: "The regime could not have made a more precious beautiful gift to the rebels had it really used these chemical weapons." Mr. Piccinin completely opposes the idea of an international attack on Syria. "The Free Syrian Army is now controlled by extremists. It would be crazy and suicidal for the West to support these people."

 

Puccinin explained: "It wasn't always the same group that held us. We were detained by different, anti-Western, anti-Christian, violent extremists. At many times, we were subjected to extreme physical violence" humiliation, bullying, and mock executions. Domenico underwent two mock executions by the revolver. At one time, we were convinced that they were going to kill us since they told us that we became a burden on them and that they were going to get rid of us".

 

Consult the interview in French here