RNA - "The West cannot choose what is better for Syria. This can be done only by the citizens of Syria," Bashar Assad said, Radio Europa 1 reported.
"The Western countries should be preoccupied by a problem of how to protect their own people from terrorism threat. We saw that extremists attacked France and Germany," the Syrian leader said.
From the very beginning, the West made a mistake by voicing support for the opposition in Syria, Assad said.
"At first, they said that these are peaceful protesters and then they understood that these people are not that peaceful and later it became clear that they are militants of terrorist groups such as the ISIL."
Assad also said it would have been far more difficult to fight against terrorists active in Syria without Russia’s support.
"Russia’s support is necessary to weaken the terrorists in Syria. Without it, it would have been far more difficult for us to combat them," Assad said.
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