Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday argued that Donald Trump’s executive order banning Syrian refugees from entering the US is correct because it targets extremists and not ordinary Syrian citizens.
“It is targeted against terrorists seeking to infiltrate the West,” Assad said in an interview with France’s Europe 1 radio station, adding, “And this has already happened. We saw it happen in Europe, for instance, in Germany. Trump wants to ban entry to the country for such people.”
Assad stressed that his big concern is “how to have Syrians return to their homeland rather than how to send them to the United States.”
“I cannot be glad to see Syrian nationals leave for other countries,” he explained.
Assad insisted that “most of the Syrians are leaving to flee terrorism and because of the Western sanctions.” He called on President Trump and other Western leaders to “lift the embargo and stop supporting terrorists.”