Assad-Kurd barbs raise fears of new Syria fault line

President al-Assad said that the continuous victories achieved in the fight against terrorism in Syria provide the necessary conditions for accelerating and strengthening the process of reconstructing what has been destroyed by terrorism in many Syrian regions, which should open wide economic prospects and further opportunities for cooperation between Syria and Russian Federation. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held talks here on Monday with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Russian officials which focused on rebuilding war-ravaged Syria and fighting terrorism, reports said. "When we talk about those referred to as 'the Kurds, ' they are in fact not just Kurds". "Russian companies have a moral right - especially in the presence of our military men - to develop major economic projects in Syria", Rogozin said, noting that, despite the massive scale of destruction, Syria remains an "infinitely rich country". Both Assad's government, which is backed by Russian Federation, and the Kurds, backed by a USA -led coalition, have fought the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria in recent months. "That's beneficial for us", Rogozin said as quoted by RIA Novosti. Macron said in a broadcast interview, using the Arab acronym for Islamic State. Assad had criticised the semi-autonomous Kurds in the past, but his latest remarks, released by the presidency on social media, were more virulent than usual. Regime forces unilaterally withdrew from Kurdish areas in mid-2012 in a move widely perceived as a tactic to discourage the Kurds from allying themselves with rebels. On Friday, Paris denounced what it called the Assad government's "irresponsible strategy of obstruction", saying it had refused to engage in the negotiations. With their common enemy now defeated across much of the country, the SDF and regime forces are in an uneasy face-off. "This regime.is itself a definition of treachery that, if Syrians do not confront it, will lead to partitioning the country, which our forces will not allow in any form", the Kurdish-led SDF added.