(REUTERS) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among those in the Arab world condemning the deadly attacks in Paris.

In a rare public statement, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says what happened in France is no different than attacks in his own region.

He says: "We have suffered from this terrorism during the past five years in Syria. What happened in France yesterday cannot be separated from what happened in Beirut two days ago, because terrorism is the same. We should not look at terrorism saying that it happens in separate fields. Syria, Yemen, Libya and France are actually one field in the whole world."