Amid calls from members of the U.S. coalition for him to step down following a four-year civil war in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said his eventual departure could only happen if the Syrian people and the parliament press for it.
The Syrian leader, interviewed by French magazine Valeurs Actuelles following the Paris attacks, said the matter of his possible resignation has yet to be raised on an international level and that the people of Syria and the parliament have not asked for it.
Assad also said he considers his long-time ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin as the only "defender of Christian civilisation."
"When I look at the present state of things in the world I realise that Vladimir Putin is the sole defender of Christian civilisation one can rely on,'' he said to French magazine Valeurs Actuelles.
When asked about intel sharing with France, Assad reportedly told the magazine that his country will immediately share intelligence information with France once Paris shifts its policies in the region to refocus its efforts on counterterrorism.
However, "if the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism," Assad said.
"You have to first change policy so that it is based on one criteria, to be part of an alliance that joins countries only fighting terrorism and not supporting them," the Syrian president said, according to the paper.
France was reportedly one of the first countries to join the U.S. in the international coalition to combat the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. The country has maintained that Assad is the main cause of Syria's civil war that has seen more than 220,000 killed in over four years.
The United States, Britain, France and other coalition members agree on the need for Assad to step down to end Syria's catastrophic civil war. They said the four-year civil war was the root cause of the migration crisis, which is now the main challenge to many countries, mostly in Europe.
Syria's ally, Moscow, however, believes that the threat from extremists must be quelled before addressing Assad's future.
