Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claims terrorists entered Europe as refugees

Terrorists are among the refugees who are entering Europe after fleeing the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview.

“I think it (the downing of the warplane) has shown the real intention of Erdogan who, let’s say, lost his nerve just because the Russian intervention has changed the balance on the ground”.

Since the outbreak of the 2011 revolt that later morphed into a brutal, multi-front civil war, Assad’s regime has branded all its opponents, armed or unarmed, “terrorists”.

In an interview due to be aired on Czech TV in full today, the Syrian strongman was asked whether he could see a peace deal being signed in Prague, as Czech President Milos Zeman had suggested in September.

At the same time, the Syrian President said he does not think the incident over Syria would affect peace talks in the war-torn country.

Moreover, President Assad said that there are terrorists among the Syrian refugees making their way to Europe.

Turkey, which said Mr 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. “If they stop”, said Assad.

“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.

According to Sky News, when asked what he thought would end four years of civil war in Syria, in which more than 200,000 people have been killed, Mr Assad said: “When those countries that I mentioned – France, UK, US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some other – stop supporting those terrorists”.

Assad hit back Tuesday, telling Czech public TV that France only stepped up its bombing of Islamic State targets in Syria after the Paris terror attacks “to dissipate the feeling of the French (people), nothing serious”.

Syrian government officials said on Tuesday they had agreed on a deal for opposition “gunmen” to leave the last insurgent-held area of the city of Homs.