Syria’s president has denied complicity with a notorious massacre of more than 100 people last month in an uncompromising speech in which he again branded the country’s uprising a foreign-backed terrorist plot.
In an address to parliament, Bashar al-Assad said he would continue to crack down on the revolt, adding that his regime had nothing to do with the “abomin-able” killing of 108 people, almost half children under 10, in the central Syrian district of Houla.
While Mr Assad said his government was prepared to talk to unarmed opponents who were free of overseas influence, his speech offered none of the “bold steps” demanded by Kofi Annan, international peace envoy to Syria, to end the country’s bloody near-15-month-old crisis.