Syria’s Assad Blames Foreign Conspiracy, Media for Continued Unrest
Published at
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS) — Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, gave a rare speech Tuesday, his first since last summer, in which he blamed hundreds of international media outlets of trying to push his country to the brink of collapse.
In his address from Damascus University on Tuesday, Assad singled out his December 2011 interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters in which he denied ordering a bloody crackdown on protesters who have demanded that he cease power, citing that discussion as an example of what he said is a foreign conspiracy and media bias against his regime. Assad argued that his words were edited and taken out of context to paint what he called a false impression.
“I had to re-watch myself,” Assad said Tuesday, referring to the ABC News interview. “When I watched myself I believed what I said. It was me who said these words.”
“If they were able to convince me of the lie, what about others? Luckily, we have original versions.”
Drawing parallels to the defiant speeches delivered by late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during his final months, Assad on Tuesday claimed that victory against the terrorists — not revolutionaries — responsible for his country’s upheaval is near, and that he will not yet step down because he has the support of his people.
“Our priority now is to regain [the] security [in] which we basked in for decades, and this can only be achieved by hitting the terrorists with an iron fist,” Assad said, according to BBC News.
“We will not be lenient with those who work with outsiders against the country.”
Thousands have been reported killed since the uprising began last year. World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, have called on Assad to step down.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio