BEIRUT—Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview released on Friday that the United States is welcome to join the battle against terrorists in Syria—as long as it is in cooperation with his government and respects the country’s sovereignty.
In an interview with Yahoo News, Assad said he has not had any communication—direct or indirect—with President Donald Trump or any official from the new U.S. administration.
But the Syrian leader appeared to make a gesture to the new U.S. president in the interview, saying he welcomes Trump’s declaration that he will make it a priority to fight terrorism—a goal Assad said he also shares.
However, Assad’s government has labelled all armed opposition to his rule—including the U.S.-backed rebels—as “terrorists.”
“We agree about this priority,” Assad said of Trump. “That’s our position in Syria, the priority is to fight terrorism.”
Syria’s six-year civil war has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population. The country is shattered and the chaos has enabled the rise of the ISIS terrorist group, which in a 2014 blitz seized a third of both Syria and neighboring Iraq. ISIS, responsible for several deadly attacks around the world, has declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it controls.
