PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad has rejected any role in Syria’s recovery for the nations he says instigated six years of war.

In an interview with Belgium’s VRT News published yesterday, Mr Assad expressed cautious optimism for a peace deal since the election of US President Donald Trump.

He denied the ceasefire brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey was “dead” following local clashes in several insurgent strongholds.

“It’s natural in every ceasefire anywhere in the world... to have these breaches,” he said.

Asked if Syria could have avoided war when anti-government uprisings began in 2011, Mr Assad said: “No, because there was bad intention regarding the different countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, France, UK, and the US in order to destabilise Syria,” he said.

He described the US-led bombing coalition against Isis, of which Belgium is part, as “a cosmetic operation.

“It was only an illusive alliance, because Isis was expanding during that operation.

“That operation is an illegal operation because it happened without consulting with or taking the permission of the Syrian government,” he added.

“They didn’t prevent any Syrian citizen from being killed by Isis, so what’s to be grateful for?”

And on the subject of EU aid in Syria’s postwar reconstruction, Mr Assad warned: “You cannot play that role while you are destroying Syria, because the EU is supporting the terrorists in Syria from the very beginning under different titles: ‘humanitarians,’ ‘moderate,’ and so on.”

“Many in this region believe that the Europeans don’t exist politically: they only follow the master, which is the Americans. They don’t exist as independent states.”

Yesterday anti-Damascus groups accused Russia of killing civilians in a raid on the al-Qaida-occupied city of Idlib on Monday night. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 people had died.

‘Slaughter’ in Damascus jail

Amnesty International reported yesterday that Mr Assad’s military police had hanged 20-50 people a week at the regime’s Saydnaya prison north of Damascus between 2011 and 2015 — up to 13,000 people.

The rights organisation described it as a “calculated campaign of extrajudicial execution” authorised by senior Syrian officials including deputies of Mr Assad.

Amnesty researcher Lynn Maalouf said it was “aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population.

“These executions take place after a sham trial [of just] minutes, but they are authorised,” from the top.

Amnesty has previously documented extensive torture in Syrian jails.

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