President Assad: ISIL born out of wrong anti-Syria approaches

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Takfiri ISIL group was born out of wrong policies adopted by anti-Syria elements.

“[ISIL] has not emerged out of thin air. ISIL came to cap accumulating wrong-headed policies by parties involved in the war against Syria…,” said the Syrian head of state.

Those parties, he said, “have supported, armed and funded terrorist and Takfiri organizations to undermine Syria and strike the Syrians’ unity.”

Assad said any international effort had to serve national reconciliations in Syria and pressure the countries backing terrorists with funds and arms to cease their support.

The ISIL terrorists control large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group first sent its militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of land along the border between the two countries.

The militants have committed terrible atrocities in Syria and Iraq, including mass executions and beheadings of local residents as well as foreign nationals.

A US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes on ISIL positions in Iraq and Syria, but the air raids have so far failed to dislodge the terrorists.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 200,000 people have been killed so far in the conflict, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein.

Western powers and some of their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are reportedly supporting the militants operating against Assad’s government.