Syria's Assad says fighting terrorism needs good policies instead of army

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the killing of civilians in Paris attacks is a terrorist act, the state news agency SANA said Wednesday.

"When you talk about terrorism, about killing civilians, and regardless of the political position, agreement or disagreement with the people who have been killed, this is a case of terrorism; and we are against killing innocent people anywhere in the world. This is our principle," Assad responded to the recent attacks in France, during an interview with Czech paper Literarni Noviny.

France was plunged into a spree of terrorist attacks in Paris in the past days with 17 people killed in separate attacks.

In a jab at the Western policies in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Assad said "They (the Western countries) didn't listen to us. Western politicians were short-sighted and narrow-minded," he remarked.

"What happened in France recently proved that what we said was true. At the same time, this incident brought European policies to account, because they are responsible for what happened in our region, for what happened in France, and maybe what happened earlier in other European countries."

As for the best way to fight terrorism, Assad said "We need to fight terrorists because they are killing innocent people, and we have to defend these people. This is the most important and urgent method to deal with it."

Fighting terrorism doesn't need an army, but needs good policies, added Assad, whose country has been reeling under the pressure of the nearly four-year-old crisis. Endit