Syrian president accuses "passive" West leaders of letting peace deal in tatters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused West leaders to be reluctant to achieve a peace deal to end the six-year conflict in the country, accusing them to support "terrorists" likely to put security in and outside conflict zone at risk.

In an interview with French media broadcast on Thursday, al-Assad said, "Western countries that have been involved in (peace) process, notably France and the United Kingdom, lost their chance of achieving anything in Geneva twice."

"They did not succeed because they support those groups that represented the terrorists against the government. Their goal was not to make peace in Syria, but rather to use the framework of the whole process to achieve their goal," he added.

While Turkey, Russia and Iran brokered a new round of truce talks in Astana, West powers have become "passive," and "have isolated themselves," al-Assad told French broadcaster Europe 1 and private television TF1.

Earlier on Thursday, representatives of Syrian government and rebel groups met in the Kazakh capital as part of Russian-Turkish backed peace deal to stop hostilities.

The UN will also convene a new round of intra--Syrian negotiations scheduled for Feb. 23 in Geneva. Endit