Beirut: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad expressed “strong confidence” on Tuesday that Russia will continue supporting his embattled regime, speaking in an interview with Hezbollah’s Al Manar television network.
Al Assad also described as “legitimate” the presence in Syria of fighters from Hezbollah backing his forces.
The powerful Lebanese Shiite movement, along with Russia and Iran, have been Al Assad’s major allies since Syria’s revolt broke out in 2011.
“We have strong confidence in the Russians, as they have proven throughout this crisis, for four years, that they are sincere and transparent in their relationship with us,” Al Assad said.
His rare television interview came as Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Syrian crisis with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on the sidelines of the Maks-2015 aerospace show in Moscow.
Al Assad described Russia as “principled”, while “the United States abandons its allies, abandons its friends”.
He added: “This was never the case with Russia’s policy, neither during the Soviet Union, nor during the time of Russia ... Russia has never said that it supported President such and such and then decided to abandon him.”
Al Assad was asked by Al Manar’s correspondent about US President Barack Obama’s comments earlier this month that Russia and Iran “recognise that the trend lines are not good for Al Assad”.
He rebuffed the statement, saying Iran, too, remained a steadfast ally.
He said the recent nuclear deal between Iran and world powers would strengthen Iran’s role internationally, in turn benefiting Syria.
“The power of Iran is the power of Syria, and a victory for Syria is a victory for Iran.”
The president added: “We are on the same axis, the axis of resistance.”
