Al-Assad: Erdogan Playing with Fire, Syria Peace when West Ends Support for Terrorists

Local Editor

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said peace would only come to his country when the West and its Middle Eastern allies "stop supporting terrorists," in an interview aired Tuesday on Czech TV.

Asked what it would take to bring an end to Syria's devastating four-year civil war, al-Assad said: "When those countries that I mentioned -- France, UK, US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some other -- stop supporting those terrorists."

The next "day the situation will be better and in a few months we will have full peace in Syria, definitely. If they stop," said al-Assad.

"If you want to fight and defeat them [terrorists], you have to cut and suffocate their supplies, their armaments, money ... coming mainly through Turkey and with the support of the Saudis and the Qataris," he said.

Al-Assad hit back Tuesday at France, telling Czech public TV that the French only stepped up bombing of "ISIS" targets after the Paris terror attacks "to dissipate the feeling of the French [people], nothing serious."

He, meanwhile, described military assistance provided to Syria by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "very serious in fighting terrorism."

Turning to a showdown between Turkey and Russia over Ankara's downing of a Russian jet fighter forces along the Turkish-Syrian border, al-Assad said opposition supporter Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was playing with fire.

"I think it [shooting down Russian jet] 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.

"So the failure of Erdogan in Syria, the failure of his terrorist groups means his political demise," he added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team