The Al-Arabiya network and the Al-Hadath channel published for the first time exclusive video footage showing former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in private conversations with his former adviser Luna al-Shibl, with Amjad Issa, al-Shibl's assistant, in the car.
In the videos al-Assad is heard speaking bluntly about areas and actors in the country. Among other things, he is heard cursing the residents of the rural area of the capital Damascus, al-Ghouta, and saying, "Yal'an Abu al-Ghouta." In August 2013, the Syrian army attacked the al-Ghouta area with sarin gas in an attempt to suppress the uprising against the regime.
In another context, Bashar al-Assad said, "Hezbollah boasts about its (military) capabilities, but now you don't hear a word from it," and in this he voiced criticism of the Lebanese terrorist organization for not assisting as much as it did in the past to deal with domestic threats to the Syrian regime.
Bashar al-Assad and his adviser mocked in their conversation soldiers in the Syrian army who kissed al-Assad's hand, and also the Syrian police and the interior minister in his government.
Assad also mocked the Syrian public, noting that they, "spend money on mosques when they have nothing to eat."
In another context, Assad said that he feels nothing at the sight of his pictures hanging in the streets of the cities and said about the situation in the country, "I don't feel only shame - but disgust."
In another video clip, he referred to his family name Assad, which means lion, saying that, "we must change the name to another animal."