Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that he is open to the idea of a coalition against Islamic State but indicated there is little chance of it happening among his enemies, casting further doubt on a Russian plan to forge an alliance against the militant group.

The initiative proposed by Russia, a vital ally of Assad, would involve the Syrian government joining regional states that have backed Syrian rebels in a shared fight against the Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq.

In an interview broadcast on Tuesday, Assad said the Syrian government would not reject such an alliance, though it made no sense "that states that stood with terrorism would be the states that will fight terrorism."