"We cannot tell anything about what he's going to do, but if... he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be allies, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries," said Assad during an interview with Portugal's RTP state television network broadcast on Tuesday.

He also said that he would welcome a notion made by Trump while campaigning that the US should be more focused on battling the Daesh terrorist group.

"I would say this is promising, but can he deliver? ...Can he go in that regard?

What about the countervailing forces within the administration, the mainstream media that were against him? How can he deal with it?" he added.

He noted that such forces are the reason that Syria is still dubious on whether Trump will be able to live up to his vows.

"That's why we are very cautious in judging him, especially as he wasn't in a political position before," he added.

During a March interview, Trump (seen below) said that the US’s "approach of fighting Assad and Daesh (ISIS, IS, ISIL) simultaneously was madness, and idiocy.”

"You can't be fighting two people that are fighting each other, and fighting them together.

You have to pick one or the other," Trump had said.

Assad also went on to accuse the US of meddling in other countries’ affairs.

"They think that they are the police of the world.

They think they are the judge of the world.

They're not," he said.

SA - 12