Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia’s political and religious ideology is "a threat to the world.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia's political and religious ideology is "a threat to the world," state television reported.

During a meeting in Damascus with Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, President Assad was referring to Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative takfiri tradition predominant in Saudi Arabia, a key backer of armed opposition groups supporting them with smuggled weapons and foreign mercenaries.

"President Assad warns during his meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of the threat posed by Wahhabi thinking to all the world, not just to the region," the report said.

"The Syrian people and some peoples in the region know how serious the threat posed by Wahhabism is, and everyone must contribute to the confrontation against it and to eradicating it from the root," said Assad.

Assad's meeting with Zarif, top diplomat of Syria's chief regional ally Iran, comes less than a week before the so-called Geneva-II peace conference, which is aimed at ending the conflict in Syria that has killed 130,000 people in nearly three years.

Zarif, on a regional tour that has included Jordan and Lebanon, said he would "work to coordinate a position... that would restore calm and security to Syria".