LONDON, October 23. /TASS/. The United States and its allies have failed to identify any force from among those in opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that has no links with terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with BBC World News’ HARDtalk, extracts from which were released on Friday.

"Unfortunately all our partners have failed up to now to identify a serious opposition that has no links to terror, no links with extremist organizations, no links with ISIL, Al Qaeda and others," he said, adding that that was why it was that important to save Syria. "It’s important to save Syria’s integrity, territorial and political integrity, not to let the whole region, including the countries that are bordering with Syria, to go into a nightmare of collapse and hegemony of terror," he said.

When Stephen Sackur, the Hardtalk host, said Russia was trying to back up the Assad regime in Syria, Peskov said, "No it is not. It is an attempt to save Syria from terrorists and extremist organisations."