You're reading: Syria’s Assad says rebels will be defeated

BEIRUT — The Syrian president said in remarks published Friday that he is adamant his regime will not fall and he also lashed out at Gulf countries, which he accused of using their enormous oil wealth to try to drive him from power.

Bashar Assad’s comments came as an opposition group, the
National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, accused the
regime of being behind the disappearance of two of its leaders.

Abdul-Aziz
al-Kheir and Ayas Ayyash were expected to take part in a conference
Sunday in Damascus by some 20 Syrian groups that are calling for Assad
to step down. But they disappeared Thursday along with a friend who had
picked them up at Damascus International Airport, the group said.

The
group’s head, Hassan Abdul-Azim, told The Associated Press by telephone
that the regime was believed to be behind the disappearance.

Syria’s
crisis began in March last year with anti-government demonstrations
demanding reforms. The protests were met with a brutal crackdown by the
regime. Syria later became embroiled in a civil war between forces
fighting for Assad and those trying to topple him. The violence has
killed more than 23,000 people so far, according to activists.

In
the interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, Assad said the
rebels “will not succeed” and that a foreign military intervention such
as the one that helped topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will “not
be repeated” in Syria.

Assad also launched one of his harshest
attacks on Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have been among his strongest
critics and backers of the opposition, saying they are trying to
influence the region with their money.

“They think their money can buy geography, history and a regional role,” Assad said.

“They
are giving terrorists weapons and money with hope of repeating the
Libyan model,” Assad added. “Instead of helping regional stability they
are supplying armed elements with weapons and training in order to
weaken the Syrian state.”

The upheaval in Syria presents an
opportunity for the Gulf’s Sunni rulers to bolster their influence and
possibly leave Shiite powerhouse Iran without its critical alliances
that flow through Damascus. Assad’s regime, which is allied strongly
with Iran, is led by the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite
Islam

Syria’s ties with the Gulf nations have been strained in the
past — Assad once called Saudi King Abdullah and other Arab leaders
“half men” for being critical of Hezbollah over the 34-day war between
the Lebanese Shiite militant group and Israel in 2006.

In the
interview, Assad added that the only way to solve the Syrian crisis is
through “dialogue with the opposition” and that the “door for dialogue
is open.”

Most Syrian opposition groups reject any talks with the
regime, saying they will not accept anything less than Assad’s departure
from power and the dissolving of his regime’s security agencies.

Abdul-Azim,
the opposition leader, repeated that stance and said the opposition
wants a “new regime that represents the will of the people.”

He
added his group will go ahead with the plans for Sunday’s opposition
conference despite the disappearance of the two leaders. The gathering
will invite European ambassadors, envoys from China and Russia, which
back the regime.

Meanwhile, in Syria’s northeastern town of Ein
al-Arab, a gunman on a motorcycle shot dead a leading Kurdish opposition
figure, Mahmoud Wali, also known as Abu Jandi, as he walked out of his
office late Thursday, Kurdish activists Mustafa Osso and Ibrahim Issa
said. Wali was a senior member of the Kurdish National Council, which
includes several Kurdish groups.

Osso said it is still not clear who was behind what he said was a “political assassination.”

On
Friday, activists reported clashes and shelling in different areas
around Syria, with the fighting being most intense in the northern city
of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial capital. The fighting
there came a day after regime airstrikes hit a gas station in northern
Syria, setting off a fiery explosion that killed at least 30 people and
wounded dozens.