Mr. Farouq Al Habib:

Honestly, I have not read that document and did not know about it. However, we trust Rafif Jouejati. I believe she expresses our thoughts and our beliefs.

As to what we expect from the joint committee and the Irish Government, we are aware Ireland is not a member of NATO and that Ireland alone would not be able to find a solution in Syria. However, we ask that Ireland continues to advocate for the same rights and values which we share, that is, the values of human beings in Syria and the rights of the Syrian people to live in democracy and freedom. Ireland should put pressure on other states in Europe and the United Nations to take decisive actions if not to stop the crisis in the short term but at least to try to ease it and make it more difficult for the criminals who now act in Syria to continue their operations. For example, we are surprised by how there has been no decisive action up to now to prevent foreign, non-Syrian fighters coming to Syria. They cross the borders, as I stated earlier both from Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and other countries. It is organised and public and nobody speaks about it or about the shipments of arms and the transfers of money. We need Ireland to exert pressure to stop this and to pass on our message that dictatorship and continuous atrocities fuel extremism. Extremism is a symptom, not the disease itself, and without building democracy in Syria, extremism and the refugee problem will not be solved.