Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments Muhammad Abd Al-Sattar Al-Sayyed, which was aired on Syrian TV on November 8, 2005.

Sheik Abd Al-Sattar Sayyed: Syria now represents the opposition to the Greater Middle East plan. We've discussed this in the past. Syria represents the opposition, the last line of defense. All the forces of the Arab and Islamic nations everywhere must be mobilized to defend this last line of defense. The last line of defense is what guarantees that the values of this nation will endure.

[...]

We must know that opposing the Zionist plots, which aim to put on the throne of the Middle East the descendents of... those whom the Koran called the descendents of apes and pigs, who raise... They are the ones who will sit on the throne of the Greater Middle East. There is no doubt about this. The Koran said this, not me.

Interviewer: Yes.

Sheik Abd Al-Sattar Sayyed: No one can say... This is a Koranic text. We don't want an American Koran or Islam. Islam is Islam, and the Koran is the Koran. One cannot change even a single letter in it.