United States diplomat urges Russian Federation to confine airstrikes to Daesh

Asked whether Europe, which is facing its worst migrant crisis since World War II, should “fear or help” hundreds of thousands of people desperately fleeing Syria, Assad said: “The majority they are the good Syrian, the patriot, the natural people”.

France has been adamant in its opposition to Assad, describing him as a “butcher” of his own people and on Monday Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said working with the Syrian army to fight the Islamic State militant group was not on the cards until he was removed. Assad has meanwhile systematically referred to all his opponents – armed or unarmed – as “terrorists”, and accused Western and regional powers seeking his demise of supporting “terrorists”. They have invested for years now in retaining Assad in energy.

The Syrian president added that there would be peace in his country if the West and its Middle Eastern allies stopped backing terrorists. If they do not, the Syrian regime will eventually win anyway, Assad said. Waxing optimistic about a new diplomatic effort in Vienna aimed at a cease-fire in Syria’s civil war, Erdogan said he hoped it would result in “sigh of relief for the entire region”.

He said the Syrian government and representatives of the opposition who are negotiating about a cease-fire are interested in signing the final declaration in Prague and that they have already started to call it the Prague declaration.

“And as you mention Prague, it would be generally accepted because of the balanced position of your country”.

Turkish support for anti-Assad rebels raises the “potential for conflict”, Smith noted, as Russian Federation has been providing military assistance to President Assad since September. He said terrorists from more than 100 countries around the world were coming to Syria to make it “a hub for terrorism”, SANA reported. “The failure of his terrorist groups means the end of his political career, and he wanted to do anything to hinder the success (of the military operation in Syria)”, Russian News Agency Tass quoted Assad as talking to Czech Television. “That’s going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue”. The war against terrorism continues, Assad said.