Assad: France sponsors terrorism, cannot talk about peace

Syrian President Bashar al-assad accused France of supporting bloodshed in his country, making it unfit to talk about a peace settlement.

“France has been the standard bearer of support for terrorism in Syria since the early days of the conflict,” he said, adding, “It is in no position to evaluate a peace conference,” Reuters reported.

“Whoever backs terrorism has no right to talk about peace or to interfere in Syrian affairs,” the Syrian president emphasized.

Assad remarks came after Paris accused his government on Friday of obstructing peace talks.

The Syrian leader made the remarks in a meeting with a high-profile official and economic delegation from Russia, led by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, SANA reported.

“When we talk about those referred to as ‘the Kurds’, they are in fact not just Kurds. All those who work for a foreign country, mainly those under American command... are traitors” regardless of their names, Assad said, Press TV wrote.

The YPG is the main part of a larger coalition of armed groups — the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — which was engaged in operations aimed at liberating Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the Daesh terrorist group in the war-torn country.

More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011. The fighting has displaced more than half the population, internally or abroad.