TIL Desk/World/Damascus-Syria’s Bashar al-Assad has said in an interview with Portugal’s television that Donald Trump will be a “natural ally” if the US president-elect fulfils his pledge to fight “terrorists”. “We cannot tell anything about what he’s going to do, but if… He is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries,” said Assad on Monday.
Asked about Trump’s campaign comments suggesting the US should focus more on fighting the Islamic State (IS) group, Assad said he would welcome such a move but was cautious. “I would say this is promising, but can he deliver?” said Assad, who was speaking in English. “Can he go in that regard? What about the countervailing forces within the administration, the mainstream media that were against him? How can he deal with it?” he said.
“That’s why for us it’s still dubious whether he can do or live up to his promises or not. “That’s why we are very cautious in judging him, especially as he wasn’t in a political position before,” said Assad. In an interview on March 26, Trump said he thought “the approach of fighting Assad and ISIS (IS) simultaneously was madness, and idiocy”.
