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 In his first public comments on the mass migration, broadcast on
Wednesday, Assad said Europe could expect more refugees.
Countries including the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia want
to see Assad gone from power and have supported the opposition to
his rule during the four-year-old war, including some of the armed
groups fighting him.
Assad said Turkish support had been crucial to the growth of two of
the biggest insurgent groups in Syria, Islamic State and the al
Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and aerial bombing by a U.S.-led coalition
had failed to stop Islamic State. Turkey denies the accusation.
The Syrian president dismissed Western suggestions that his
government's actions in the war had fueled the spread of such
groups.
"As long as they follow this propaganda, they will have more
refugees," Assad said in an interview with Russian media. "If you
are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists."
The Syrian government describes all the armed groups fighting it as
terrorists. The insurgents in Syria range from the hardline Islamist
Islamic State to nationalists viewed as moderate by the West.
RUSSIAN SUPPORT
Assad has been buoyed in recent weeks by signs of increased military
support from his ally Russia. In his comments he made no mention of
reports of Russian military activity in Syria.
The White House said on Tuesday it wanted to see Russia engage
constructively with the international coalition fighting Islamic
State, rather than build up its own military presence.
Moscow says the Syrian government should be part of a broad
coalition to fight Islamic State.
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Assad said there was no coordination between his government and the
United States, even indirectly, apparently backing away from
comments earlier this year suggesting there had been some contact.
"There's not a single coordination or contact between the Syrian
government and the United States government or between the Syrian
army and the U.S. army ... Not even any third party including the
Iraqis," he said.
He played down proposals for a peace initiative that Assad ally Iran
has said it presented to Syrian officials.
"There is currently no Iranian initiative, but rather there are
ideas, or principles, for an Iranian initiative which are based
principally on the subject of Syria's sovereignty ... and are based
on fighting terrorism," Assad said.
(Reporting by John Davison and Sylvia Westall; editing by Andrew
Roche)
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