Saudi Prince Turki: 'High Level of Disappointment' With US Over Syria
In an interview with Al-Monitor, the former intelligence chief for Saudi Arabia says it's “up to the Iranians to show that their sweet and sensible talk is going to be translated into action.”
WASHINGTON — Prince Turki Al-Faisal Al-Saud, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies and former director-general of the Kingdom’s General Intelligence Directorate, said on Tuesday, Oct. 22, ‘There is definitely, from a public opinion point of view in the Kingdom, a high level of disappointment in the US government’s dealings, not just with Palestine, but equally with Syria.”
Speaking with Al-Monitor after delivering the luncheon keynote address at the annual Arab-US Policymakers Conference of the National Council on US-Arab Relations, Prince Turki said the Syrian opposition “should not be treated the way that the US has treated them.”
Prince Turki, a former ambassador to the United States and co-founder of the King Faisal Foundation, made the case for military support for the moderate Syrian opposition forces to “level the playing field” before “meaningful negotiations” can begin.
“So whether it is Assad continuing, or not continuing, it is the fighting that has to stop, and the only way, in my view, that you can stop the fighting is, as I said, to have a level playing field where the opposition not only can fend for itself and protect itself from the onslaught of the aircraft and artillery and missiles and the chemical weapons of the regime, but also from being challenged by these extremists who are coming from all over the place, and are trying to do something according to their view of the world, ” Prince Turki explained.
