Personally, I do not support the concept of suicide bombings. This is not part of our [syrian] culture. But whether you condemn them or not, suicide bombings are a reality.

Reform has to be based on opening your mind and opening the mind does not come from decrees or laws. It comes from a whole set of circumstances, which if you do not have, anything you do will be not productive or will be counter-productive.

Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East.

Many people do not understand the difference between peace and a peace treaty. If you want to have real peace with normal relations between people, you need to have comprehensive peace.

The majority of fighters now are Al-Qaeda. If you want to support them, you are supporting Al-Qaeda, you are creating havoc in the region, and if this region is not stable, the whole world cannot be stable.

I'm not talking about him; I'm talking about the countries that go to support [Antonio] Guterres plan, because he needs the support of other countries, he cannot achieve that plan while many countries in the world are still supporting the terrorists in Syria. So, of course we support it, whether helping the people to live, to go back to their country, and to live in security without terrorists.

From the first day I took the decision as President to defend my country.