"The West backed the wrong horse [in Syria]. We can thank ourselves for all the troubles in the country which we are witnessing now," Van Damme told weekly business and finance magazine Trends. "We should not have meddled in Syria's affairs."
The implications of what once could have appeared as a solution to some are now clear and gloomy. Organizations viewed as moderate were either obliterated or incorporated into more powerful and more radical groups. The ongoing war sparked a massive wave of immigration suffocating Europe while terrorist threat in the Middle East and beyond is only rising.
It is so difficult to tell US's proxy "moderate rebels" from other terrorists in #Syria especially since they cooperate and defect so much
— Mark Sleboda (@MarkSleboda1) 2 октября 2015
"We should honestly admit that the time has passed when our media presented Syrian militants as idealists who would never kill civilians," Van Damme observed, adding that Europeans are finally beginning to understand that their "best friends are actually archenemies."
"British and French politicians view him as an 'interim' leader. Austrians went even further by urging to work" with the Syrian president, the journalist noted.
Their concerns are understandable. After all, the US and a number of countries have been engaged in a months-long aerial campaign aimed at destroying the Islamic State in Syria and neighboring Iraq. Yet the group seems to be as strong as ever, probably meaning that Washington's approach to the issue is not working.
Last week, following a request from the Assad government, Russia launched an airstrike campaign aimed at assisting Syrian forces in their fight against terrorists.
Russia's REGNUM agency quoted former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament Lode Vanoost as saying that President Vladimir Putin is the only world leader "with a specific working plan how to save the situation."