During the meeting, Assad confirmed that the Syrian army will achieve decisiveness in its military operations in the next six months. 

"After the war is finished, certain standards will be adopted in any future relationship between Syria and the Arab and foreign countries that participated in the war against Damascus," Assad said in the meeting. 

Assad stressed the importance of his country's steadfastness as it fights the war against terrorism. 

"We are determined to end it," he added. 

Referring to efforts being made by the United States and Russia to convene the second episode of the Geneva conference on Syria to finally resolve the dispute, Assad said, "There is no meaning to any political settlement in the presence of foreign terrorist elements and Takfiris on the ground." 

"Syria, the Syrian people, and the army will continue to defend themselves," he vowed. 

Meanwhile, the six largest rebel factions in Syria declared a new Islamic Front on Thursday, forming the largest alliance of opposition fighters yet since the conflict began. 

Syria's fractious rebel forces have tried many times to unify their ranks but failed. Islamist rebel commanders, in a video aired on al Jazeera, said their new union would not only seek to oust Assad but establish an Islamic state. 

"This independent political, military and social formation aims to topple the regime completely and build an Islamic state," said Ahmed Eissa, who heads the Suqour al-Sham brigades. The merger undermines the secular Free Syrian Army (FSA) leadership, once seen as a symbolic umbrella leadership for all the rebels but weakened by infighting and defections. 

It could also challenge the ascendance of al Qaeda-linked factions that have grown increasingly powerful as other rebel groups are weakened. 

Among the main groups that joined the front are forces such as Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Sham and Islamic Army. The Tawhid Brigade, which spearheaded the August 2012 offensive that saw rebels take large swathes of the city of Aleppo and other parts northern Syria, was another leading member. The groups are not seen as being as hardline as the Qaeda-linked rebels.     Add Comments>>