President Bashar al-Assad said yesterday a military campaign by Russia, Syria and its allies will decide the fate of the Middle East, and a year of US-led air strikes against Islamic State militants had only helped the spread of terrorism.

In an interview with Iranian television broadcast yesterday, Assad said if Syria, Russia, Iran and Iraq unite in battling terrorism their efforts would yield practical results.

He was speaking days after Russian jets, based in western Syria, launched air strikes against targets Moscow has identified as Islamic State bases, but which Assad’s opponents say disproportionately hit rival, foreign-backed insurgents.

“The chances of this alliance’s success are big, not small,” Assad said.

He said a campaign of Western and Arab air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria had been counterproductive and terrorism had spread both in terms of territory and new recruits.

Syria’s conflict grew out of protests against Assad’s rule in early 2011, which were put down by force and then turned violent, drawing in regional opponents and supporters of the Syrian leader. Assad said it was not for outside powers to decide Syria’s fate.

“Discussion of the political system or officials in Syria is an internal Syrian affair,” the Syrian presidency’s Twitter feed quoted him as saying in the interview.

“In regard to their recent statements about a transitional period and other issues, I say clearly that it’s not up to any foreign official to decide Syria’s future,” Mr Assad said.

Which individuals govern Syria is a decision for the Syrian people

“The future political system, and which individuals govern Syria, this is a decision for the Syrian people. That’s why these statements don’t concern us.”

The US, France and Britain say the Russian air strikes are aimed at propping up Mr Assad after recent rebel advances. “They are backing the butcher Assad, which is a terrible mistake, for them and the world,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Residents in Homs reported air strikes yesterday they believed were carried out by Russian jets, in an area controlled by factions fighting under the umbrella of the rebel Free Syrian Army, not Islamic State.

“So far there are seven or six raids in the town,” said Abdul Ghafar al Dweik, a rescue worker in Talbiseh, adding that the air strikes were different to attacks by Syrian warplanes.

“With the Syrian planes, we would get a warning but now all of a sudden we see it over our heads,” he said.

At least five bodies were recovered in the western part of Talbiseh, he said. Ambulances rushed the wounded to hospital. Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front said that fighters in the region around Talbiseh – a pocket of insurgent-controlled land – were forming a joint military “operations room” to coordinate operations.

A separate statement in the name of dozens of Free Syrian Army officers said they would take part in the unified command “to confront the Russian and Iranian occupation”.

Mr Assad accused the US and its Western and Arab allies of hypocrisy because of their support for insurgents fighting in Syria.

“Countries which support terrorism cannot battle terrorism,” he said. “That’s the truth of the coalition that we see... That’s why after a year and several months we see no results.”

Syria’s conflict grew out of protests against Assad’s rule in early 2011, which were put down by force and then turned violent, drawing in regional opponents and supporters of the Syrian leader.

Efforts to find a political solution to the civil war have so far proven fruitless, with most rebel fighters demanding Assad’s departure as a precondition for talks. Western states also say Assad must step aside, though most have softened their stance to say he could play some role in a transition period.

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