Press TV has conducted an interview with Michel Chossudovsky of the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal about the issue of the Western proxy war in Syria and the fresh advances being made by the army of the Syrian government in its fight against insurgents backed by the West, Israel and some Persian Gulf states.

The following is an approximate transcript of the interview, which appears on video after a short Press TV interview with retired Lebanese army general, Hisham Jaber.

Press TV: How do you see the situation in Syria? Which side has the upper hand?

Chossudovsky: It appears from the reports that the insurgency has been defeated. This is something we’ve known for quite some time. It’s been a progressive and continuous process.

And we should emphasize that this insurgency is a US-NATO-Israeli-sponsored terrorist operation, which is being defeated. And we should understand that this is a proxy entity of the Western military alliance recruited by NATO and its allies including of course Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

We have a severe opposition and an insurgency, which is largely a Western construct – it’s a fake opposition and the military arm of this entity are the terrorists, which are supported covertly by Western intelligence, supplied and so on.

So the question we have to ask ourselves now, which is of course very crucial: Do we need a peace plan or do we need peace?

Because in essence Syria has achieved the goal of laying the grounds for peace through the defeat of these terrorists.

Press TV: With regards to the plan to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons… Belgium, France and Albania were chosen as host countries.

Firstly, is there any significance as to why these countries; and secondly, what are the side effects of chemical weapons destruction for these host countries?

Chossudovsky: With regards to the chemical weapons issue pertaining to Syria, this has been, on the part of the United States and its allies, it has been a mechanism in a sense to divert attention from the real conflict.

It has been used as a mechanism also to divert attention from the fact that the weapons of mass destruction are held essentially by the Western military alliance and its…ally, Israel, which threatens the entire region.

At the same time, putting aside the chemical weapons issue, we must establish the record of what has happened.

This has been a criminal undertaking of unleashing terrorists against a sovereign State.

We must declare an unconditional moratorium on support to these mercenary forces, [though] the Western military alliance will attempt to rebuild them.

We have to raise the issue of war reparations because essentially this is a criminal war and those responsible for that war must pay reparations. Incidentally the United States has in fact destroyed several countries in the post-World War Two period, starting with Korea, Vietnam, of course Afghanistan and Iraq; they‘ve never paid war reparations.

But here we have a situation where the war criminals should be exposed and indicted under international humanitarian law.

The actors of this undertaking are not the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists; these are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance. The architects are in Brussels, Washington, London, Ankara, Tel Aviv, Doha and Riyadh.

- See more at: http://globalresearchreport.com/2013/11/19/the-west-is-the-architect-of-terrorism-in-syria/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+globalresearchreport+%28Global+Research+Report%29#sthash.MvuNWJPc.dpuf