Update: Syria's Assad welcomes UN role in possible Syrian elections

DAMASCUS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday that his administration welcomes any role of the UN in possible Syrian elections as long as it respects the Syrian sovereignty, according to the Syrian presidential media office.

Assad made the remarks to reporters following his meeting with a Russian official and economic delegation headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The president said any role of the UN in Syrian elections must be based on the UN charters and respect the Syrian sovereignty.

"This is why we are not worried about any role of the UN and we can say that we welcome any role of the UN," the president told reporters.

The elections and constitution in Syria are expected to be discussed in the upcoming talks in the Russian city of Sochi earlier next year.

The UN is also expected to monitor the elections.

Assad said if there is a constitutional amendment, there will be elections based on the constitution.

Meanwhile, Assad spoke positively about the Russian-backed Sochi meeting, adding that the parties in the Geneva conference whom the government was negotiating with could not represent the Syrian people.

The Syrian government repeatedly said that any Russian-backed initiative is accepted.

Last month, leaders of Iran, Turkey and Russia met in Sochi to lay the foundation of a peaceful resolution to Syria's long-standing conflict.

Earlier next year, the Sochi meeting will be attended by delegations from the opposition and the government.

The Sochi meeting will be held following the eighth round of Geneva talks on Syria, which has completely failed in reaching a solution to the conflict.

Meanwhile, Assad slammed the recent French remarks, which accused the Assad government of refusing to reach a solution during the eighth round of Geneva talks.

"Since the beginning, France has been the spearheading in rendering support to the terrorists in Syria, and its hands are smeared in the Syrian blood, and it has no right to evaluate any peace talks," Assad said.

Assad also said that the war on terrorism had not ended yet, adding "we are still living in the war, but we have made strides in it through eliminating the major strongholds of the Islamic State (IS) group and this is a major victory."

He added that the aim of the world's focus on IS is to divert the attention from the terrorism that still exists in Syria under the support of the West.

"The war on terrorism will not end in Syrian until the elimination of the last terrorist and then we can talk about an actual reality of victory," he said.

Assad said "whoever works under the command of foreign countries against his own country is a traitor regardless of the labels and that is our evacuation to the groups that work for the United States in Syria." Enditem