President Assad made the remarks in a meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, Head of Strategic Research Center, in Damascus, while noting the efforts of certain states to insecure the region.

“Such hostile stances are in association with defeats the terrorists are suffering in Iraq and Syria; yet such mean efforts could not halt Tehran and Damascus cooperation for strengthening peace in the region and defending their own national interests,” he reaffirmed.

Assad underlined that the conflict Syria and its allies are involved in today is not merely fighting terrorism; “but it is against investing on terrorism plot and the efforts to disintegrate the region.”

Leader’s senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, for his part, hailed Syria’s resistance against “a campaign that used all its potentials to destroy the country, its national unity and territorial integrity,” expressing hope the war would result in uprooting all terrorist groups in Middle East.