Assad: there is no serious effort to fight IS

Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the US coalition does not want to get rid of IS completely, judging by the inefficiency of its strikes against the terrorists."The so-called anti-terrorist coalition carries out 10 strikes a day in Syria and Iraq. The coalition includes 60 rich and advanced countries. But the Syrian air force, which is very small in comparison to this coalition, conducts in a single day many times the number of airstrikes," he said."Even if you are not a military man, it is self-evident that this doesn't make sense. This shows a lack of seriousness," he pointed out."Maybe some of these countries do not want IS to grow larger than it has become in Syria and Iraq, but at the same time they don’t want to get rid of IS completely," Assad said."They want to retain this terrorist force to be used as a threat to blackmail different countries. That’s why we say simply that there is no serious effort to fight terrorism, and what is being achieved by the Syrian forces on the ground equals in one day what is being achieved by these states in weeks," he said."This shows that these countries are not serious, not only militarily, but politically speaking. An anti-terrorist coalition cannot consist of countries which are themselves supporters of terrorism. So there is a political side and a military side, and the two are linked to each other. The result is the same: IS is struck in one place but expands in another," the Syrian president said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the US coalition does not want to get rid of IS completely, judging by the inefficiency of its strikes against the terrorists.

"The so-called anti-terrorist coalition carries out 10 strikes a day in Syria and Iraq. The coalition includes 60 rich and advanced countries. But the Syrian air force, which is very small in comparison to this coalition, conducts in a single day many times the number of airstrikes," he said.

"Even if you are not a military man, it is self-evident that this doesn't make sense. This shows a lack of seriousness," he pointed out.

"Maybe some of these countries do not want IS to grow larger than it has become in Syria and Iraq, but at the same time they don’t want to get rid of IS completely," Assad said.

"They want to retain this terrorist force to be used as a threat to blackmail different countries. That’s why we say simply that there is no serious effort to fight terrorism, and what is being achieved by the Syrian forces on the ground equals in one day what is being achieved by these states in weeks," he said.

"This shows that these countries are not serious, not only militarily, but politically speaking. An anti-terrorist coalition cannot consist of countries which are themselves supporters of terrorism. So there is a political side and a military side, and the two are linked to each other. The result is the same: IS is struck in one place but expands in another," the Syrian president said.