Assad: ‘We need time to win a global, regional war’

IN the TV interview broadcast yesterday, president Bashar al-Assad said that his regime needed more time to win the civil war, acknowledging that his forces were struggling to contain the rebels.

“We are fighting a regional and global war, so time is needed to win it,” he told the pro-regime private TV station Dunya. “We are moving forward. The situation is practically better but it has not been decided yet. That takes time.”

He appeared to make light of defections, some of them senior military and political officials, including the prime minister.

“Defections are a mechanism of self-cleansing of the nation,” he said.

“If there is a Syrian citizen who knows of someone who wishes to flee but is hesitant to do so he should encourage him.”

Mr Assad also laughed when told by the interviewer that rumours about his whereabouts often made the rounds among Syrians.

“I am here with you in the studio in Damascus,” he said. “The fate of Syria, I tell the Syrian people, is in your hands.”