Alwaght- Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said that US Donald Trump's "animal Assad" insult is representation of the US president himself.
"It represents him, and I think there is a well-known principle, that what you say is what you are," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during an interview with RT.
Assad was referring to an April tweet by US President Donald in which he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran for the alleged chemical attack near the capital Damascus.
"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay," Trump tweeted.
During the interview Assad was asked if he had a nickname for the US president, to which he responded:
"This is not my language, so, I cannot use similar language. This is his language. It represents him, and I think there is a very known principle, that what you say is what you are. So, he wanted to represent what he is, and that's normal. Anyway, it didn't move anything, and this kind of language shouldn't move anything for anyone," he said.
Elsewhere during the interview, Assad said Russia deterred the West from launching a devastating country-wide air strike last month, and believes that Damascus has nearly won the seven-year war, despite continued US “interference.”
“With every move forward for the Syrian Army, and for the political process, and for the whole situation, our enemies and our opponents, mainly the West led by the United States and their puppets in Europe and in our region, they try to make it farther – either by supporting more terrorism, bringing more terrorists to Syria, or by hindering the political process,” Assad said, noting that without outside funding his opponents inside the country could be subdued “within a year.”
The Syrian leader believes, however, that the closer the deadly conflict comes to an end, the more desperate his opponents’ measures become. He cited the alleged Douma chemical weapon attack (“Is it in our interest? Why, and why now?” he asks) as a last-ditch Western attempt to sway international opinion – one that failed.
“They told a story, they told a lie, and the public opinion around the world and in the West didn’t buy their story, but they couldn’t withdraw. So, they had to do something, even on a smaller scale, ”Assad said, referring to the joint airstrikes against purported Syrian chemical weapons facilities, carried out on April 14 by the US, UK,
With Western ‘advisers’ deployed alongside their proxy forces in Syria, Assad also thanked Russia for not triggering face-to-face confrontation with the US, which is operating in close proximity both in the air and on the ground.