Terrorists Are Among Syrian Refugees Going to Europe, Assad Says

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused France of “supporting terrorism” and said he saw Prague as a possible venue for signing any future peace deal to end his country’s four-year civil war, in comments broadcast Monday on Czech TV.

“If you really want to fight them [terrorists] and defeat them, you must prevent the supplies of arms, finances and recruits, which mainly goes through Turkey with support of Saudi Arabia and Qatar”, Assad told the Czech Television.

The next “day the situation will be better and in a few months we will have full peace in Syria, definitely”.

Russia, the main global supporter of Assad, has been bombing insurgent positions in western Syria near where its warplane crashed, including areas held by Turkmen rebels supported by Ankara. “But of course you have infiltration of terrorists among them, that is true”, Reuters reported Assad as saying. The war against terrorism continues.

Among the Islamic State terrorists who perpetrated the November 13 attacks in Paris were at least two Syrians who entered Europe among the multitude of migrants.

France has been adamant in its opposition to Assad, describing him as a “butcher” of his own people amid the civil war that has so far claimed a quarter million lives and created millions of refugees, triggering the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II.

Last week, France President Francois Hollande had reiterated his determination to see Assad step down in order to give Syria a chance for peace.

Turkey, which says Assad’s departure must be part of any long-term solution in Syria, has said the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace – something that Russia denies. “This is Erdogan’s failure in Syria”.