US policies clash with American people’s interests: Assad

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad says the United States’ policies are in contrast with the interests of the American people and the world as a whole.

Assad made the remarks in a meeting with representatives of the US Peace Council, the American branch of the World Peace Council international organization on Thursday, SANA reported.

“The US policies are at a collision course with the interests of the US citizens and the peoples of the world,” Assad said.

“The role of the United States as a superpower should otherwise be positive and based on fostering knowledge, science and technology instead of chaos and destruction,” he said.

Washington and some of its international allies have been lending generous financial and military support to the militants who have been fighting the Syrian government since 2011. The foreign-backed militancy has cost thousands of lives.

A US-led coalition grouping dozens of countries has been bombarding Syria since September 2014 without authorization from Damascus or the United Nations. The coalition purports to be targeting the positions of Daesh.

In a statement to journalists, Henry Lowendorf, who headed the visiting American delegation to Syria, said the group had held “fruitful and constructive” talks with Assad.

“We had the honor to meet President al-Assad. He was straightforward and wanted us to be so. We related to him what we saw and he provided rational, accurate and wise answers for our questions… He impressed us with his insight not only about the situation in Syria but also about world powers,” he added.

Earlier in the week, Assad told a visiting delegation of Greek parliamentarians that Western countries started supporting anti-Damascus militants because they could not bear to see the Arab country leading an independent existence.

Although many Western countries have been supporting the anti-Damascus militants, some of them have come to realize the importance of Damascus’ fight against terrorism, sending delegations to Damascus and voicing tacit willingness to restore ties with the government of President Assad.