15 February 2017, 12:30 GMT
PARIS (Sputnik) — Assad stressed that Raqqa is "no more than a symbol of the Islamic State [Daesh]", and that "the IS [Daesh] is present everywhere" – near Damascus, in Palmyra, eastern Syria.
"No, Raqqa is not such a goal. … Raqqa is not a priority. Priorities are everywhere. And they depend on the military development. But for us everything is important — Raqqa, Idlib, Palmyra," Assad told French radio station Europe1 in an interview published on Thursday.
The civil war being fought in Syria between government troops and numerous opposition and terrorist organizations has been raging for nearly six years.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by US airstrikes, are currently advancing on Raqqa. Earlier this month, the Syrian Kurds announced plans to fully liberate the city from Daesh extremists, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, in the near future.
