MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. It will take a long time to defeat the ideology of terrorism in Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Russia’s Zvezda television channel.

"Extremist and fanatic ideas have been espoused for 50 years, beginning from the 1960s. They emerged and spread across the world in no time. Financing played a major role. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to propagate them," he said. "The West has been encouraging the spread of these ideas since the time of the British dominance when they encouraged religious extremism at the beginning of the 20th century. This extremism has been developing and evolving ever since. That is why it will take time to defeat it."

"An ideological war is more difficult that a traditional warfare. It takes a long time to rehabilitate new generations, to teach them to the right, unbiased thinking," he noted.

According to the Syrian president, terrorism has been threatening Syria since the 1950s and most of the Syrians have been doomed to live along with terrorism throughout their lives. "Naturally, we never stop thinking of it. Even if we defeat it, we must be aware that it may be back because terrorism is not people, it is the ideas. As long as the West is dreaming to return to its imperial past, about its hegemony, terrorism may revive in this of that form," Assad stressed.

"If terrorist ideas are gone, neither the West nor Syria’s enemies will be able to revive them," he added.