Assad: Syria prepared to negotiate, but not with suicide

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday said his government was willing to negotiate as long as terrorist organizations are not a party to the talks

"We are ready today to start the negotiations with the opposition. But it depends on the definition of opposition. Opposition, for everyone in this world, doesn't mean militant. There's a big difference between militants, terrorists and opposition," Assad added in an exclusive interview with the Spanish News Agency (EFE) in Damascus .

"Since the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, we adopted the dialogue approach with every party that is involved in the Syrian conflict," the Syrian president said.

But he added that "we've been seeing that some countries wanted the terrorist groups to join these negotiations."

"They want the Syrian government to negotiate with the terrorists, something I don't think anyone would accept in any country," Assad said.

"Regarding the militants in Syria, we already had some dialogue with some groups, not organizations, for one reason, to reach a situation where they give up their armaments and either join the government or go back to their normal life, having amnesty from the government. This is the only way to deal with the militants in Syria. Whenever they want to change their approach, give up the armaments, we are ready, while to deal with them as a political entity, this is something we completely refuse," he added.

Sources: MENA