Syrian President Says Possibility for Cooperation with US “Definitely Always There,” Criticizes Obama Administration

ABC NEWS/Rob Wallace(NEW YORK) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday that the possibility of increased cooperation with the U.S. is “definitely always there” after the two nations have worked together in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Speaking with Foreign Affairs magazine, Assad said that the two nations had been “talking about or asking for international cooperation against terrorism for 30 years.” Assad said that in order to turn the “potential” into actual cooperation, questions need to be answered — such as “how much will does the United States have to really fight terrorism on the ground?”

The Syrian president called U.S. efforts thus far “window-dressing” and “nothing real.” Since U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria began, Assad added, ISIS has gained more land in the two countries.

Assad also questioned the intent of U.S. airstrikes on the Syrian border city of Kobani. Calling Kobani a small city, Assad told Foreign Affairs “it’s been more than three months since the beginning of attacks, and [the U.S. hasn’t] finished. Same areas, same al Qaeda factions occupying them — the Syrian army liberated in less than three weeks. It means they’re not serious about fighting terrorism.”

Assad said, in the long run, he thinks the U.S. must put pressure on countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar “to stop supporting the rebels.”

“This is our land; this is our country. We are responsible,” Assad said. “We don’t ask for American troops at all.” Further, the American airstrikes in Syria, which Assad says the U.S. did not request permission for from the Syrian government, are “illegal.”

Also in the interview, Assad criticized the Obama administration, saying that it “[builds] its evaluation and later decisions on social media.”

“We call it a social media administration,” Assad said, “which is not politics.”

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