Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said terrorists through their counterattack on Palmyra wanted to undermine the victory in Aleppo and at the same time to distract the Syrian Army from Aleppo to make it more toward Palmyra.

In an interview with RT, the Syrian leader said the western governments seemed to care more about saving terrorists than civilians, as he slammed the lackluster reaction to ISIL’s attack on Palmyra.

“If (Palmyra) was captured by the government they would be worrying about the heritage. If we liberate Aleppo from the terrorists, the western officials and the mainstream media, they are going to be worrying about the civilians. They do not worry when the opposite happens, when the terrorists are killing those civilians or attacking Palmyra and destroying the human heritage, not only the Syrian heritage.”

“If you look at the timing of their (ISIL) attack (on Palmyra) is related to what is happening in Aleppo. This is the response to what is happening in Aleppo – the advancement of the Syrian Arab Army – and they wanted to undermine the victory in Aleppo and at the same time to distract the Syrian Army from Aleppo to make it more toward Palmyra and stop the advancement. But, of course, it did not work,” Assad said according to fragment of the interview, which is to be exclusively aired on RT on Wednesday.

On the other hand, President Assad that western countries demand of ceasefire in Aleppo means “please, stop the advancement of the Syrian Army against the terrorists,” noting that these states want to save the terrorists because the Syrian army has gone too far in defeating the insurgents.

Source: RT