MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The US-led coalition has not been coordinating its actions in Syria with Damascus and has repeatedly called for Assad's resignation.
"If you want to start genuinely, as the United States, to do so, it must be through the Syrian government… You cannot defeat the terrorism without cooperation with the people and the government of any country," Assad said.
He added that "security zones for the Syrians can only happen when you have stability and security, where you don't have terrorists, where you don't have flow and support of those terrorists by the neighboring countries or by Western countries. This is where you can have a natural safe zone, which is our country… It is much more valuable, much more practical, and less costly to have stability, than to create a safe zone."
Assad stressed that "a rapprochement" between Russia and the United States is necessary to deal with the conflict in his country.
Recently, US President Donald Trump emphasized that he "will absolutely do safe zones in Syria" for refugees in order to halt the flow of migrants from Syria to other states.
Earlier, Assad said that Trump’s attempts to fight terrorism will be impeded by major US media outlets and different companies that have their own financial interest in doing so. Moreover, he said that improved Russia-US relations under the Trump administration will help resolve the Syrian crisis.
