“The only problem left in Syria is the SDF,” Assad told Russia Today in an interview aired on Thursday.

“We’re going to deal with it by two options,” he said.

“The first one: we started now opening doors for negotiations. Because the majority of them are Syrians, supposedly they like their country, they don’t like to be puppets to any foreigners,” Assad said in English.

“We have one option, to live with each other as Syrians. If not, we’re going to resort... to liberating those areas by force.”

The SDF in oil-rich northeastern Syria have long pushed for increased autonomy in their heartland but Damascus has insisted it intends to reassert its authority over the entire country.

“It’s our land, it’s our right and it’s our duty to liberate it,” Assad said. “The Americans should leave. Somehow they’re going to leave.”

An SDF spokesman told AFP the group’s military command was aware of the interview but had no immediate comment.

“We were close to have direct conflict between the Russian forces and the American forces,” Assad said.

“Fortunately, it has been avoided, not by the wisdom of the American leadership, but by the wisdom of the Russian leadership.”

Reporter’s code: 50101