Bouteflika Congratulates Bashar El-Assad On The Occasion Of 72nd Anniversary Of Syria’s Independence

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika congratulated his Syrian counterpart Bashar El-Assad on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of his country’s independence and expressed his will to further bolster the ties of brotherhood and to enhance Algerian-Syrian cooperation in all fields of endeavor.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a message of congratulations to President El Assad, said: “It is a pleasure for me to warmly congratulate the brotherly Syrian people on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the glorious Syrian Independence Day on behalf of the Algerian government and people. I deeply hope that your brotherly country will succeed in restoring security and peace and resuming the march of steady development and construction.”
The message comes only days after Algeria expressed its regret over the triple aggression against Syria waged by the United States, Britain and France following allegations of the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the city of Douma, as stated by Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia in his recent press conference.
Unfortunately, contrary to the level-headed Algerian state’s stance on the issue, several Arab countries, especially in the Gulf, have aligned themselves with the Western trio under the pretext of “disciplining Assad and protecting civilians in Syria.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to express to you our keen interest in further strengthening brotherly ties and shoring up joint cooperation in all fields for the benefit of our two peoples and brotherly countries,” President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said in his congratulations message.
Since the outbreak of the violent unrest in Syria in 2011, and after the damaging breakaway of Damascus with its Arab neighbors, Algeria has all the same maintained normal relations with Syria, as well as with Lebanon and Iraq, by notably maintaining the Algerian diplomatic representation in Damascus, represented by Ambassador Saleh Boucha.
The Syrian Embassy continued to work normally here in Algeria, and despite the exclusion of Syria from the membership of the Arab League during the Doha Summit of 2013, Algeria chose a different approach, as it received the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
Algerian foreign minister Abdelkader Messahel visited Damascus in April 2016, and reiterated there “the full solidarity of Algeria with Syria in the face of the scourge of terrorism.”
Algeria thereby buttresses its relations with Syria on the basis of refusing to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, by totally rejecting imported solutions through military operations and by being independent in its decisions contrary to some other Arab countries which are under the adverse sway of major world powers.