Al-Assad: Neither Trump nor Previous Presidents Had Foreign Policy Experience

Local Editor

Asked by NBC News' Bill Neely whether the presumptive Republican nominee's inexperience worried him, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded with questions of his own. "Who had this experience before? Obama? Or George Bush? Or Clinton before? None of them had any experience," he said, according to an excerpt of the interview that aired Wednesday on "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt."

"This is the problem with the United States," he said. "You have to look for a statesman who has real experience in politics for years. Not because, to have position in Congress for few years, or minister of foreign affairs, for example, that doesn't help you have the experience."

However, despite his intimation that Trump's lack of foreign policy experience doesn't disqualify him from the White House, al-Assad said the real estate mogul's election could be dangerous.

"If anyone who doesn't have experience in any position, a White House, or in the presidential palace in Syria, in other countries, of course it is dangerous for the country generally," he said.

Separately, al-Assad received on Wednesday Iraq's National Security Adviser Faleh al-Fayad who conveyed a letter from PM Haider al-Abadi on mutual political, military and security cooperation, particularly combating terrorism.

Al-Fayad briefed President al-Assad on the ongoing preparations to advance into al-Mosul city and liberate it from terrorism, affirming the Iraqi leaderships' commitment to continue support, communication and coordination with the Syrian government as this cooperation will have positive outcomes in combating terrorist organizations which pose threat to the region and the world.

For his part, al-Assad congratulated brotherly Iraq, as a government and people, for the victories and achievements gained by the Iraqi army and Popular Mobilization Forces in combating Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the terrorist "ISIS" group], the latest of which was liberating al-Fallujah city.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team