TEHRAN - A top Iranian military commander has said that opposition to the Beshar-al-Assad government by the United States and some other Western countries is synonymous with supporting the militants of the Islamic States in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Daesh.

“The opposition of the U.S. and some Western countries with Assad is in contradiction with campaign against Takfiri terrorism of Daesh and is considered support for Daesh,” Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran's chief of staff, told a scholarly meeting of students and professors of National Defense University.

Firouzabadi said today the fight against “takfiri terrorists”, especially “Takfiri terrorists of Daesh”, is a very important in terms of global security and politics.

The major general went on to say that the United States and Israel arranged meetings of the “Friends of Syria” first in the region and then in Europe with the leadership of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and thereby invited terrorists from Afghanistan and Iraq to Syria and trained and provided weapons to them and in this way turned them into the “current takfiri terrorist group” who is now the “enemy of the entire population of the world”.

The warnings to regional and outside countries in the first years of the conflict in Syria that terrorism would not be confined to the Syrian borders and threaten the region and the rest of the world went unheard, but the terrorist attacks in Paris have made European countries and the United States come to their senses to fight terrorism, he noted.

But while the U.S. President Barack Obama makes repeated calls for campaign against terrorism again he airs harsh words against President Assad as the symbol of the Syrian “sovereignty”.

“Declaring war against Daesh and at the same time attacking the president of a country who is fighting Daesh is unacceptable,” the general noted.

He said according to the consensus made in Vienna about the Syrian war the terrorist must be wiped out and then the Syrian people decide about the sovereignty of their country so in such a situation pointing the finger against Assad will only embolden Daesh.

“Today, takfiri terrorists are very audacious and the regretful operations in France have created more audacity among them and their supporters.”

He added, “Americans should stop this wrong and contradictory policy so that the war on terrorists in Syria takes course in the benefit of the global peace and global security.”

The general also praised the Russian policy in the war against militants in Syria, calling it a “transparent” and “brave” move which should be followed by other countries.

“We should take lessons from the brave and transparent presence of Russians in Syria and the rest of powers for participation in the campaign against Daesh must show transparency.”