Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the history will remember him as the ruler who defended the sovereignty of Syria, stressing that the fate of his country will be decided only and only by Syrians.
During an interview with NBC News television network Assad said Russian President Vladimir Putin has never talked to him about leaving power, despite pressure from Washington for the Syrian president to step down.
“They never said a single word regarding this,” Assad said when asked whether Putin or Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had talked to him about a political transition in Syria.
Assad also said he is not concerned that Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry, who travels to Moscow Thursday, will make a deal that would force him from power.
“Because their politics, I mean, the Russian politics, is not based on making deals. It’s based on values,” Assad said.
Describing the relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad said: ” Very frank, very honest, mutual respect.”
” I hope that history will see me as the man who protected his country, from the terrorism and from the intervention, and saved its sovereignty,” the Syrian leader said.
“When you protect your country from the terrorists, and you kill terrorists, and you defeat terrorists, you’re not brutal. You are a patriot.”
Asked about how much time is needed to win the war on Syria, Assad stressed that this depends on how long are the supporters of those terrorists are going to keep supporting them, “especially Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the endorsement of some Western countries including the United States.”
“That depends on how much support the terrorists are going to have, how much recruitment are you going to have in Turkey with the Saudi money, to have more terrorists coming to Syria. Their aim is to prolong the war, so they can prolong it if they want, and they’ve already succeeded in that.”
Meanwhile, Assad slammed the lack of experience in U.S. presidential politics, telling NBC News it is “dangerous” for the country.
He made little distinction between the two candidates, however, when asked if he was worried about Trump’s lack of foreign policy experience.
“Who had this experience before? Obama? Or George Bush? Or (Bill) Clinton before? None of them had any experience,” he told NBC News. “This is the problem with the United States.”
He said a “few years” in Congress or foreign affairs doesn’t count — and that having someone without experience in the White House “of course it is dangerous for the country generally.”
Source: Agencies
