Syria’s Assad says he won’t negotiate with ‘terrorists’ as USA wants

Syrian President Bashar Assad, in an exclusive interview with EFE, stressed the need to halt the flow of terrorists that he said were arriving in Syria and Iraq through Turkey, as well as to block the terror financing that, in his view, was originating in Saudi Arabia.

The disparate groups agreed on a common framework following two days of talks in Riyadh. Within six months, the negotiations are to establish a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” transitional government that would set a schedule for drafting a new constitution and holding a free and fair U.N.-supervised election within 18 months.

A picture provided by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA)on December 10, 2015 shows members of the Syrian opposition during their meeting in Riyadh.

Asked if he had thought about stepping down as president and leaving the country, he said: “I never thought about leaving Syria under any circumstances, in any situation, something I never put in my mind”. The Syrian government refers to all insurgent groups as terrorists.

On Thursday, a three-day conference aimed at unifying Syrian opposition parties’ stances ahead of the next round of Syrian peace talks with global mediators concluded in Riyadh.

He said it was up to the Syrian individuals to decide whether he should leave his place, but that he had the support of the “majority of the Syrians”.

Hosted by the Saudi Arabia, the unprecedented talks between more than 100 representatives from armed and political opposition groups tried to unite the factions fighting against the Syrian government in the bloody conflict in which more than 250,000 people have been killed.