[Editor’s note: This article is from the author’s blog post of 28 September 2015. It is being shared here as a reminder to the neo-colonialist world that the Syrian people voted for their president, in 2014.]

by Afraa Dagher

President Obama in the White House is trying to talk by Syrians’ name. Sometimes he talks by the name of minorities, other times by the name of all Syrians, while the only ones he represents are those who chose to stand against their country.

President Bashar Al – Assad is our elected president. He is the president we voted for, under the missiles of the foreign-backed moderate rebels inside Syria. And for the Syrians who live in foreign countries, they have been banned from voting! [ed. note: Most EU countries democratically closed Syrian embassies in early 2012. The US closed the Syrian embassy in early 2014. Without embassies, Syrians in other countries who maintained voting status were physically prevented from doing so.]

Syrians joined the election without any scare of rebels’ missiles which targeted them in Syria. And for expatriates, Syrians out of Syria [they] traveled from Europe, Australia to Lebanon then Syria to raise their voices: We vote for our President Bashar Al – Assad, the one we trust to lead our country to the beach of peace and prosperity. No direct plane[s] to Syria. The West imposed sanctions on Syrian people as a kind of punishment as they stand with their leader, [but] that couldn’t be an obstacle for Syrians.

Maybe I didn’t say new things, however the new is here:

Syrians in Europe: Viva Syria Al Assad, carrying the flag of independent Syria. No for partition.

Muslim in church. Syrians are one. No for small states in Syria. No for balkanizing Syria.

Election time. God, Syria and Bashar, our legitimate president. To hell for rebels and their missiles.

First, the majority of Syrians from all sects voted for President Bashar Al – Assad.

Syrian women voting, 3 June 2014.

Second, when past president Hafez Al – Assad passed away in the year 2000, Syrians fled to the streets and public squares yelling with one voice, God Syria and Bashar. It was our call and hope for president Bashar to rule Syria. It was our people willing.

الله، سورية، بشار وبس

President Bashar Al – Assad saved Syria from [the] horrible destiny as the one in Libya, as NATO bombed innocent people in Libya.

President Assad has great relations with chosen allies. However he has the fundamental issue and the important element which is the popular base,, and the sacrifices of the Syrian Arab Army, this legend and ideological army. [ed. note: Conscription is mandatory in the Syrian Arab Republic. The SAA is the army of the people of Syria.]

Today Syria is still standing on its own two feet by the willing of its people, the sacrifices of its army, and the support of our allies. The important element in this long and critical period is the faith; Syrians trust their leadership decisions.

To save your country, that needs a high price. It was our blood. However, it is our logo: Homeland, Honor, and Sincerity.

To save Syria you can’t be pro-Syria only. You need to be pro-Assad. How could the ship sail successfully without a great captain?

With or without the transitional government, the Syrian elected president is President Bashar Al – Assad. This was the word of our martyrs. This is the word of Syrians. This is the word of the Syrian Arab Army, the army who fights global terror movement on behalf of the world.

Our president: The will of the people.

[Update August 2017: This report contained a video that YouTube censored]