“All the players need to be part of the solution”.
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Mr Assad said he welcomed Russian officials meeting different factions in the conflict and trusted them to maintain “their great relationship with Syria”.
Assad said Iran, too, remained a strong ally, adding that the recent nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers would strengthen the country’s role in global affairs, benefiting Syria.
Diplomats say Iran and Russian Federation are the prime movers behind the latest push. “We are on the same axis, the axis of resistance”, the embattled president said.
Assad’s comments come as a monitoring group claimed Tuesday that Syrian government air strikes east of the capital of Damascus have killed 247 people in the last 10 days, including 50 children, and wounded more than 1,000.
Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba’ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party’s branch in Syria.
Syria has been plagued by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.
Several global efforts to bring about a political solution to the crisis have failed.
De Mistura’s plan, set to begin in September, aims to set up four working groups to address safety and protection, counterterrorism, political and legal issues, and construction. “The important thing is to be able to form an alliance to fight terrorism”, he said.
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Throughout the four-year war, Syria’s regime has used the term “terrorist” to refer to peaceful activists, rebels, and jihadists alike.
