Vatican, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday sent a message to Pope Francis conveyed by Minister of State Joseph Sweid during his meeting with the Pope’s Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin.

In the message, President al-Assad expressed the Syrian people and leadership’s appreciation of the stances of his holiness regarding the crisis in Syria, highlighting that the crisis will be solved through national dialogue among the Syrians and under a Syrian leadership without foreign intervention as to enable the Syrians to determine their future and leadership through ballots.

The message stressed the Syrian government’s readiness to participate in the international conference on Syria « Geneva 2, » highlighting that combating the terrorism that targets citizens is a decisive factor in making any peaceful solution to the crisis a success.

The message also highlighted that stopping terrorism requires having the countries which are involved in supporting the armed terrorist groups stop…