Syria's Assad vows "iron fist," mocks Arab League (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to strike "terrorists" with an iron fist and derided the Arab League for its attempts to halt violence in a 10-month-old revolt against his rule.

The president's 100-minute speech, his first public address since June, contained vague promises of reform, but no sweeping concessions that might split an opposition now determined to end more than four decades of domination by the Assad family.

Assad, 46, gave no sign that he was willing to relinquish the power he inherited on his father's death in 2000.

"I am not someone who abandons responsibility," he declared. "I am in this position because of support from the people and if I leave it will be because of the desire of the people."

Assad made scathing remarks about the Arab League, which has sent monitors to check Syria's compliance with an Arab peace plan after suspending it from the 22-member body in November.

"The Arab League has failed for six decades to take a position in the Arab interest ... We should not be surprised," he said, while adding that Syria would not "close the door" to any Arab proposal that respected its sovereignty and unity.

Syria, Assad complained, was the target of a relentless foreign media campaign. Blaming unrest on "outside planning," he said, "The outside now regrettably includes Arabs."

His approach to unrest, casting it as a foreign conspiracy and countering it with violent repression and hazy promises of reform, resembled that of other Arab leaders confronted by mass protests in the past year. Three have been toppled.

Despite the persistent upheaval in Syria, in which insurgent attacks have begun to eclipse civilian demonstrations, Assad's security forces seem to retain the upper hand.

"The Syrian regime is likely to retain power throughout most of 2012," said Ayham Kamel of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy.

"Although military defections will increase, the army is likely to maintain its coherence," he said, adding that powerful business leaders in Damascus and Aleppo would only abandon Assad if a credible alternative leadership emerged.

The Syrian opposition, riven by factional splits, has yet to form a widely accepted representative council.

Reviewing progress since the monitors began work on December 26, the Arab League said on Sunday Syria had only partly kept an agreement to stop violence, withdraw troops from cities, free prisoners, provide media access and open a political dialogue.

Many of Assad's critics say the Arab monitoring mission has failed to halt the bloodshed and is only giving the authorities more time to crack down on protesters.

The League has decided to expand the 165-strong mission and keep it going at least until it reports again on January 19.

KUWAITI MONITORS HURT

Two Kuwaiti members of the team were slightly injured in an attack by unidentified demonstrators on their way to the port city of Latakia, Kuwait's state news agency KUNA reported, citing a statement by the Gulf emirate's military.

Video footage on the Internet appeared to show a crowd of pro-Assad demonstrators in Latakia on Monday surrounding a convoy of monitors' cars and climbing onto their vehicles.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed by security forces trying to suppress anti-Assad demonstrations that erupted in March, inspired by a wave of revolts against Arab autocrats across the Middle East.

Syrian authorities say foreign-backed armed "terrorists" have killed 2,000 members of the security forces.

Assad acknowledged some "wrong actions" by the authorities but despite the high casualty toll, he denied any policy to shoot demonstrators. "There is no cover for anyone. There are no orders for anyone to open fire on any citizen," he said.

Nevertheless, his priority was to restore order, which could only be achieved by "hitting terrorists with an iron fist."

"There is no tolerance for terrorism or for those who use weapons to kill," said Assad.

Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council, described Assad's speech as dangerous because he had "insisted on using violence against our people, considered the revolution a terrorist conspiracy and thus undercut any Arab or non-Arab initiative to find a political solution to the crisis."

After months of largely peaceful protests, which were violently suppressed, some of Assad's opponents, notably army deserters, have taken up arms against him.

The struggle in Syria, Iran's only Arab ally, has alarmed its neighbors: Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel and Iraq.

HEADING FOR WAR

"The situation in Syria is heading towards a religious, sectarian, racial war, and this needs to be prevented," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a former friend of Assad who has become one of his fiercest critics, said on Monday.

Erdogan had long urged Assad to make drastic reforms in response to the uprising, but has since said he must go.

The Syrian leader said he would welcome a government formed of "all political forces" and promised a referendum in March on a new constitution that would usher in a multi-party system.

Under the present constitution, Assad's Baath party is designated as "the leader of the state and society."

Since the uprising began, Assad has responded with both repression and offers of dialogue and reform. Opposition forces say continued bloodshed shows the need for regime change.

Syrian opposition figures have called for action by the U.N. Security Council to halt Assad's efforts to crush protests.

"We need to know what the League will do if the regime continues its crackdown in the presence of the monitors. At one point it needs to refer Syria to the U.N. Security Council," said Rima Fleihan, of the opposition Syrian National Council.

The League appears divided over whether to take such a step, which in the case of Libya led to foreign military intervention that helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi.

Russia and China have opposed any Security Council move on Syria, while Western powers hostile to Assad have so far shown little appetite for Libya-style intervention in a country that sits in a far more volatile area of the Middle East.

The West is also cautious because of opposition divisions.

They are split over the role of armed resistance in what began as a peaceful protest movement, the weight Islamist groups should have in any joint opposition body, and the scope for Arab, U.N. or other external action to drive Assad from power.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Laila Bassam in Beirut and Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120110/wl_nm/us_syria

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