Syrian army successes will help accelerate a political settlement to the country's civil war, President Bashar al-Assad said, because they weaken the position of international opponents who he accused of hindering any agreement.
In an interview published as government forces, backed by heavy Russian air power, maintained an offensive against Islamic State militants, Assad said his government "continue to be flexible" in its approach to talks aimed at ending the war.
"However at the same time, these victories will have an impact on the forces and nations which hinder a settlement because those states, first of all, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, France and Great Britain, are betting on our defeat on the battlefield in order to enforce their terms during the talks," he said.
He was speaking in an interview with Russia's RIA news agency published on Tuesday, two days after government forces backed by intense Russian air power drove Islamic State militants out of Palmyra, delivering one of the biggest setbacks to the jihadist group since it declared a caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2014.