sep 6, 2013 - Venezuelan lawmaker fights for Syrias al Assad
Description:
The picture has created an uproar in Venezuela. It shows Venezuelan lawmaker Adel El Zabayar, holding an assault rifle and posing with two armed soldiers. What makes the photo particularly striking is that the 49-year-old legislator is in Syria supporting President Bashar Al-Assad.
El Zabayar was born in Venezuela, but his parents are from Syria. The lawmaker, who was little known before his trip to Syria, says he's willing to fight for the country of his forebears if the United States attacks the Arab nation. In another picture, El Zabayar appears in the middle of a group of apparent military men. Like most of the others, he's holding an assault rifle. In a recent phone interview with CNN en Español from Damascus, where he's visiting his ailing mother, El Zabayar called the U.S. government hypocritical.
"It has a double standard when it comes to al Qaeda," he said. "We need to think about that. The world has to start a debate about international terrorism."
El Zabayar is a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. He accompanied the late President Hugo Chavez when he met with al-Assad in Syria in 2009. The Venezuelan National Assembly granted El Zabayar a leave of absence to travel to Syria, and President Nicolas Maduro praises him as a hero.
