BEIRUT, October 6. /TASS/. Europe is absent from the international scene as a political force now, as it is fully toeing the line of the US, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Denmark's TV2 channel on Thursday.

"It is about the whole Europe now being absent from the political map, at least since 2003, after the invasion of Iraq just because they had to follow the Americans," Assad said, adding that some European countries even "do not dare to take their own independent path in politics."

The president also noted that European peoples are not Syria’s enemies. However, in his view, it is necessary to differentiate between the peoples and the policy pursued by the governments in their countries.