Syria ready to negotiate with opposition groups: President Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he is "optimistic" about upcoming peace negotiations due to be held in Kazakhstan between representatives of Damascus and dozens of foreign-backed opposition groups.

The Syrian president made the remark in a meeting with a visiting delegation of French parliamentarians and intellectuals in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Sunday.

Damascus is "ready to negotiate" with some 91 armed opposition groups, President Assad was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) as saying.

Assad also said he was "counting a lot" on the upcoming talks, which are scheduled to be held in the Kazakh capital, Astana, later this month.

The Syrian president also blamed France for its current policy, saying it is disconnected from the reality of the war in Syria. He added that the adopted policy by Paris has deteriorated the situation through the support it has provided for terrorist groups in the country.

The Syria president also stated that he was prepared "for a reconciliation with them (the terrorist groups) providing that they lay down their weapons."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Assad criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and blamed him for jailing "more political prisoners than all the Arab countries combined."

The Syrian president rejected accusations of war crimes committed by Syria's government forces, saying no war was clean. He, however, added, "There were probably mistakes on the government side, which I regret them and condemn them."

The French delegation, for its part, said they had seen substantial improvement of the situation, which in turn revealed the ability of the Syrian people and government to restore security and stability and continue to stand their ground firmly in the face of terrorism. They added that the Western public opinion, particularly in France, had become aware that the image they were receiving about the status quo in the region and Syria was not realistic and included plenty of false information.

The French delegation, led by lawmaker Thierry Mariani, arrived in Syria on January 5 and visited the ancient city of Aleppo the next day.

SS