(CNN)Syria’s leader has praised
Donald Trump’s rhetoric on terror, saying the new US President’s pledge
to prioritize the fight against terrorism, including ISIS, was
“promising.” “Trump during the campaign and after the
campaign is promising regarding the priority of fighting terrorists,
and mainly ISIS, that’s what we’ve been asking for during the last six
years,” Assad said. “It’s
still early to expect anything practical. It could be about the
cooperation between the US and Russia, that we think is going to be
positive for the rest of the world, including Syria.” It’s
not the first time the Syrian leader has praised Trump. In an interview
with state media agency, SANA, last December, Assad said the then
President-elect would be a “natural ally” if he held fast to his hard line on terrorists.
taking the reins of power from his father in July 2000, said that his
government had left “no stone unturned” in attempts to bring opposition
parties to the bargaining table in an attempt to end the civil war.
when you talk about terrorists, when you talk about Al Qaeda, when you
talk about al-Nusra and ISIS, I don’t think anyone in this world would
believe that they are ready for dialogue,” he said.
said in the interview that the EU was “supporting the terrorists” in
Syria. His government has repeatedly referred to opposition fighters,
some of whom are supported by Western allies, as terrorists.
dismissed the US-led coalition’s campaign against ISIS as “a cosmetic
operation” and “illusive,” claiming that the terror group expanded
during the duration of the campaign. He also said it was it was an
illegal operation as it represented a breach of sovereignty.
delegates issued a statement saying they had agreed to “establish a
trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the
ceasefire, to prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of
the ceasefire.”
the parties’ conviction that there is no military solution to the Syrian
conflict and that it can only be solved through a political process.
