Bashar al-Assad: ISIS Didn't Start In Syria, "Established Under American"

"What I can tell you is that in the multilateral sessions, which will continue to occur going forward, the role of Assad in this transition will be spelled out", Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

"If the French government is not serious about fighting terrorism, we wouldn't waste our time cooperating with a country, or a government, let's say, with an institution that is supporting terrorism", Assad stressed, adding that his final message to French President Francois Hollande is that "be serious when you talk about fighting terrorists".

He said first the decision on a government of national accord should be made, and then the Syrian people should be given a possibility to decide themselves on who they wanted to see as their leader. However, they remained at loggerheads over the role of President Assad in any future setup.

Ending the four year war in Syria has taken on increasing urgency as the Islamic State group has gained more and more territory, assets and recruits.

In an interview shown Italian state TV channel RAI Uno on Wednesday night al-Assad said that "nothing can start before defeating the terrorists who occupy parts of Syria".

The Syrian population wants a united Syria, Assad asserted, adding that impressions promulgated by Western media of the ongoing civil war in the country as being based on religious grounds are incorrect.

In another interview with the French Magazine Valeurs Actuelles, Assad said that you can not fight terrorism while you follow the wrong policies that support terrorism directly or indirectly.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The crisis has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people so far and displaced millions of others.