Syria’s Assad says Russia’s support changes balance on the ground

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad says Russia’s involvement in his country’s war has led to significant changes, including the “shrinking” of the Islamic State (IS) group.

Mr Assad said the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey last week showed Ankara’s dissatisfaction with developments on the ground in Syria, which he said had been moving in the government’s favour.

“The failure of Erdogan in Syria, the failure of his terrorist groups, means his political demise”, he said.

“The war against terrorism is continuing”.

“I think there is no way back on that regard, whether he does it again, this way or another way”, he added. Obama then said though that Russian Federation has been sitting the opposition targets in Syria, and some of these Syrian opposition targets are being supported by the United States. Even then, Obama said that the Islamic State is a very deadly organization, partially because the social media support that helps the organization get resources, and also ISIS has some very experienced members who know how to fight in all ways.

“You are not charged with any (crime), you are free to go toyour normal life, but go back to your normal life, peacefullife”, he said.

“They are not ready to make negotiations with the government anyway”, Assad said.

In an interview with Czech TV on Tuesday, the Syrian leader condemned the actions of the UK, France, the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – but he praised Vladimir Putin for launching a bombing campaign backing his forces in September.

When a mention is made of Prague, this would be generally accepted due to the balanced position of the CzechRepublic, he added.

When asked whether the pact could be signed not in Vienna or Geneva, where the talks are now underway, but in Prague, Assad replied that naturally, if Syrians are asked, they do not want a peace conference in France because it supports terrorism and war, not peace.