Bombing must succeed or region could be destroyed, president tells Iranian TV, as he accuses the west of encouraging terrorism

Russian airstrikes on territories controlled by rebels fighting against the Syrian government have been given the public backing of the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

Assad said in an interview broadcast on Iranian television that the attacks must succeed or the whole region could be destroyed. He said the Russian campaign has the potential to do so because it is backed by Iran and has international support, if not from western countries.

He said: “It must succeed or we are facing the destruction of a whole region, and not a country or two. The chances for success are large, not small.”

Assad called on the nations that support the armed opposition to stop, in his first comments since Russia launched an intensive air campaign against rebel positions in Syria on Wednesday.

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Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has said the strikes are targeting Islamic State and other militant groups, but critics have suggested their focus has been on anti-Assad fighters, rather than Isis.

During the interview, Assad hit out at the west, accusing it of fuelling terrorism by supporting rebel groups, and ultimately causing the refugee crisis.

He said: “In reality, they are the biggest contributor for reaching this stage by supporting terrorism and imposing a siege on Syria. They attack terrorism but they are terrorists in their policies, either by imposing the siege or by supporting the terrorists.”

Assad has accused western countries, neighbouring Turkey and the Gulf states of fuelling the war by supporting the armed opposition, all of whom he calls terrorists. Isis and the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, are among the strongest groups operating there. But there are dozens of organisations, some backed by the west, fighting against the government and Isis.

He said the west’s failure to achieve its goals in Syria had forced it to change position regarding a political settlement that includes him. Assad insisted that it is up to the Syrian people to decide who rules the country and under what political system, not foreign leaders.

“What is for certain is that the western officials are lost, lack clarity of vision and are feeling the failure of their plots [toward Syria]. “The only goal that was realised ... is the destruction of much infrastructure in Syria, shedding lots of blood.”

Assad said western governments were paying the price for their failed policy in Syria and that terrorism had been exported to their countries, as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees.

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Activists reported raids on Sunday in the central province of Homs, where at least two children and a shepherd were killed in the town of Talbiseh and nearby areas. A video posted on an activist media platform showed panicked residents fleeing.

More than half a million people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year, double the figure for the whole of 2014, most of whom are Syrians.

The Syrian civil war is entering its fifth year, with at least 250,000 people killed and half the pre-war population on the move, four million refugees and eight million internally displaced.

Assad has suffered a series of setbacks on the ground in recent months and conceded that his army has had to relinquish some territory in the north to be able to better defend core areas seen as more critical to the government.