Syria’s Assad says ready for talks with U.S.-backed militias, SDF challenges

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has expressed readiness for negotiations with the Syrian Democratic Forces, or else he would use force against them to get out of the regions they control.

In a televised interview with Russia Today channel on Thursday, Assad said western forces, with U.S. on top of them, backs ‘terrorist groups’ in the region.

In response to a question about time for ending the war, Assad said it’s hard to set time for that, however, he said it’s about to end.

Assad also indicated that the U.S. does not have plenty of options after ‘liberating’ regions like Aleppo, Deir az-Zour, Homs, Damascus. However, he considered SDF as one of the options that could be used by the U.S. at the meantime.

“The only problem remaining in Syria now is the Syrian Democratic Forces. We will deal with them through two options. First is that we opened door for negotiations. If this does not happen, we will have to liberate those regions forcibly,” he said.

Regarding possibilities that U.S.-Russian conflict could occur on Syrian lands, Assad said, “ We were about having a direct conflict between the U.S. and Russian forces, but that was avoided. Thanks to the wisdom of the Russian leadership, not the U.S. leadership.”

In response to remarks made by Assad, SDF, backed by U.S., said the military option is not the solution that could bring up any result.

“Whatever military solution against SDF, will result into more destruction, loss and hardships to Syrian people,” Kino Gabriel, spokesperson for SDF, said in remarks.