The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said Monday, while receiving an Australian delegation, his country is being confronted by a major extremist offensive.

The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said Monday, while receiving an Australian delegation, his country is being confronted by a major extremist offensive, SANA reported.

Assad received an Australian solidarity delegation comprising academic figures and activists, headed by Prof. Tim Anderson.

During the meeting, President al-Assad said that what is happening in Syria and the region affects the entire world, because the takfiri extremist mentality Syria is facing is a terrorism that knows no borders and has no home, asserting that it's an international blight that could strike anywhere and at any time.

On relations with the West, President al-Assad said that the problem lies in the double standards employed by some western politicians regarding regional issues and their pursuit of narrow interests in a manner removed from a correct understanding of the reality and nature of what is happening in Syria and the region.

He underlined the importance of visits like this in deepening communication and building cultural bridges among people in order to relay reality as it is and confront attempts of media falsification and misdirection.

For their part, members of the delegation said they will do their best to relay the truth about what they witnessed in Syria, noting that they represent a broad section of the Australian people who support Syria against the multifaceted war targeting it which aims to deplete its people's resources and undermine its integral role in the region.