Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said India is welcome to play a role in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.
He also said India and Syria were victims of terror and they should support each other in the fight against the menace.
"India is welcome to play an economic role in the reconstruction of Syria, something we have already started."We started this project in Damascus, and now we are expanding that project in most of the cities in Syria, of course after the liberation from ISIS and al-Nusra and those terrorist groups. Of course, we welcome any Indian company," he told WION TV.
On the fight against terror, Assad said India and Syria could learn from each other and work towards building a "genuine coalition" against terrorism, according to a press release issued by the TV channel.
Assad described India's stand on the Syrian war as one based on international law and the UN Charter, and independent of those countries that sought to pressure New Delhi to end all ties with Syria. He said India would be among the first countries he plans to visit after the war is over. Assad said the worst of his country's war has passed, after a series of losses for the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and other jihadist organizations.
During the interview Assad said the situation in Syria is "much better than before." Pointing to assistance from its Russian and Iranian allies, he said the Syrian military was able to reassert control over major cities formerly held by ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups. The Syrian leader blamed the West, Turkey and Gulf Arab states for supporting rebels that emerged from widespread unrest in 2011, and said that, without foreign backing, his forces and their allies would be victorious in a matter of months. "Things now are moving in the right direction which is a better direction, because we are defeating the terrorists," Assad said. "Unless the West and other countries and their allies, their puppets, supported those extremists in a very, how to say, massive way, I'm sure the worst is behind us."
The Syrian army has begun a massive offensive to retake the large swathes of eastern territory held by ISIS and is expected to face fierce resistance as the jihadists attempt to defend what's left of their self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq. The operation is also designed to relieve the city of Deir Al-Zour, which has been under ISIS siege 2014.
While the military has been met with early success fighting east of Palmyra, the logistics of the campaign have been complicated by the presence of US Special Forces and the opposition groups they support in southern Syria.
Although both Washington and Damascus oppose ISIS, President Donald Trump and his administration have turned on Assad since accusing him of ordering a chemical weapons attack on civilians in the rebel-held northern province of Idlib in April. Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin have vehemently denied launching the attack, and blame local rebel groups for orchestrating an attempt to get Western forces more involved in the conflict.
Less than 72 hours after the alleged chemical attack, Trump ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase. In the most recent instance of US targeting forces supportive of Assad, a pro-government convoy that Washington claimed was threatening its military.