US must get out of Syria, Assad says

BEIRUT: The United States should learn the lesson of Iraq and leave Syria, President Bashar alAssad said in an interview, responding to US President Donald Trump’s description of him as an animal by saying ‘‘what you say is what you are’’.

In the interview with RT, the Russian state’s international broadcaster, Assad raised the prospect of conflict with US forces if they did not leave Syria. He vowed to recover territory where US troops are deployed, either through negotiations with the US’s Syrian allies or by force.

Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, appears militarily unassailable in the war that has killed an estimated half a million people, uprooted around 6 million people in the country and driven 5 million abroad as refugees.

After recovering swathes of territory, Assad controls the biggest part of Syria. But tracts remain outside his control at the borders with Iraq, Jordan and Turkey.

That includes large parts of the north and east where US special forces deployed during the fight against Islamic State, supporting the Kurdishdominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Assad said the government had ‘‘started now opening doors for negotiations’’ with the SDF.

‘‘This is the first option. If not, we’re going to resort to . . . liberating those areas by force. We don’t have any other options, with the Americans or without the Americans,’’ he said. ‘‘The Americans should leave; somehow they’re going to leave.’’ — Reuters