Syrian official talks about Al Muallem’s visit to Algeria

Syria’s foreign minister Walid Al Muallem said Algeria understands the nature of the terror war faced by his country. Syrian vice-minister Faissal Al Makdad described Al Muallem’s visit to Algiers as “successful.”

Al Makdad was part of a Syrian delegation which visited Algeria last week. He said officials discussed the fight against terror and security coordination.

“Syria and Algeria are standing in the same trench against terror. They are coordinating in this field on the economic, security, intellectual and cultural levels,” he told a Syrian channel on Wednesday.

Al-Makdad avoided to talk about military coordination, saying “we do not talk about these fields. We hope that Algeria will mobilize all the army and security forces capacities to counter terrorism. We can not forget that this army supported Arab nations’ forces in 1973.”

He also said Syrian command did not ask Algeria to send its army to fight terror groups.

Asked whether Damascus’ resistance against terror will protect Algeria, he said “I do not want to underestimate Algeria’s capacity to protect itself but I am sure that resistance in Syria will protect Moscow, Algiers and Pretoria.”

He stressed the necessity of supporting Algeria in its war on terror.

Speaking about the surprise visit to Algeria, Al Makdad said both countries are in one battle against terrorism. “Many western nations joined this alliance to fight ISIS. Algeria gave thousands of victims in the war on terror.”

He held Saudi Arabia responsible for supporting terrorism in Algeria and Syria.