Syrian president says he will not flee his country
Source: Agencies |
November 9, 2012, Friday
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SYRIAN President Bashar Assad vowed defiantly to "live and die" in Syria, saying in an interview broadcast yesterday that he will never flee his country despite the bloody, 19-month-old uprising against him.
The broadcast came two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people.
"I am not a puppet, I was not made by the West for me to go to the West or any other country," Assad, 47, said in the interview with the English-language Russia Today TV. He spoke in English and excerpts of the interview were posted on the station's website yesterday with an Arabic voiceover.
"I am Syrian, I am made in Syria, and I will live and die in Syria," he said.
Assad also warned against foreign military intervention at a time when the West is taking steps to boost the opposition.
"I don't think the West is headed in this direction. But if it does, nobody can predict the consequences," he said.
The uprising against Assad's regime began as mostly peaceful protests in March last year but quickly morphed into a civil war. The fighting has taken on grim sectarian tones, with the predominantly Sunni rebels fighting government forces. Assad's regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
On Wednesday, Cameron announced that his country will deal directly with Syrian rebel military leaders. Previously, Britain and the US have acknowledged contacts only with exile groups and political opposition figures inside Syria.
He called on the US to join Britain in doing more to shape the Syrian opposition into a coherent force, saying the re-election of President Barack Obama is an opportunity for the world to take stronger action to end the deadlock of the civil war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the West for supporting the opposition, saying foreign powers should try to force both sides to stop fighting.
"If their priority is, figuratively speaking, Assad's head, the supporters of such approach must realize that the price for that will be lives of the Syrians, not their own lives," Lavrov said. "Bashar Assad isn't going anywhere and will never leave, no matter what they say. He can't be persuaded to take that step."
In several televised speeches this year, Assad has blamed the uprising on a foreign plot to destroy Syria and accused rebels of being mercenaries of the West and Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The broadcast came two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people.
"I am not a puppet, I was not made by the West for me to go to the West or any other country," Assad, 47, said in the interview with the English-language Russia Today TV. He spoke in English and excerpts of the interview were posted on the station's website yesterday with an Arabic voiceover.
"I am Syrian, I am made in Syria, and I will live and die in Syria," he said.
Assad also warned against foreign military intervention at a time when the West is taking steps to boost the opposition.
"I don't think the West is headed in this direction. But if it does, nobody can predict the consequences," he said.
The uprising against Assad's regime began as mostly peaceful protests in March last year but quickly morphed into a civil war. The fighting has taken on grim sectarian tones, with the predominantly Sunni rebels fighting government forces. Assad's regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
On Wednesday, Cameron announced that his country will deal directly with Syrian rebel military leaders. Previously, Britain and the US have acknowledged contacts only with exile groups and political opposition figures inside Syria.
He called on the US to join Britain in doing more to shape the Syrian opposition into a coherent force, saying the re-election of President Barack Obama is an opportunity for the world to take stronger action to end the deadlock of the civil war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the West for supporting the opposition, saying foreign powers should try to force both sides to stop fighting.
"If their priority is, figuratively speaking, Assad's head, the supporters of such approach must realize that the price for that will be lives of the Syrians, not their own lives," Lavrov said. "Bashar Assad isn't going anywhere and will never leave, no matter what they say. He can't be persuaded to take that step."
In several televised speeches this year, Assad has blamed the uprising on a foreign plot to destroy Syria and accused rebels of being mercenaries of the West and Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
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