Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Western countries pursue a double-standard approach vis-à-vis Syria, while doing the United States’ bidding in the process. “They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially [regarding] the security, including your (the Australian) government,” Assad told Australia’s SBS News in an interview to be aired on Friday.

“They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually, most of the Western officials… they only repeat what the United States wants them to say. This is the reality,” he added.The West and its regional allies, most notably Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have been funneling monetary and battleground means to the militants who have been fighting the Syrian government since 2011.

The unwavering sponsorship has been widely denounced as a major impediment to the resolution of the conflict, which, according to an estimation by the United Nations (UN)’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, has estimated has killed over 400,000 people.

A ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia went into effect in Syria on February 27. The truce does not apply to Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups, the two most brutal ones carrying out a campaign of terror in the Arab country.

Russia has been striving to place a number of other groups, including al-Qaeda-lined Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham, on the UN terror list. The US, however, has been subverting the efforts, alleging that the groups are “moderate” Syrian opposition.

Presstv