Syria`s Assad says willing to hold early presidential vote

President Bashar al-Assad has said he is willing to hold early Presidential Elections, but sharp differences over his future are still hampering efforts to resolve Syria`s five-year civil war.

The opposition has long demanded Assad step down at the beginning of any transitional period, but the regime says any talk of his removal is a "red line".

In comments to Russian state media published on Thursday, Assad said he would consider ending his current seven-year term early if that was what Syrians wanted.

"Is there popular will to hold early presidential elections? If there is, I don`t have a problem with it," Assad told RIA Novosti.

Assad was re-elected with nearly 90 percent of the vote in a June 2014 ballot that the opposition and the West decried as a "farce".