Syria's Assad offers road map to end conflict
- Published: 6 Jan 2013 at 02.45
- Online news: World
President Bashar al-Assad offered a road map to end Syria's civil war in a rare speech Sunday in which he branded the opposition "slaves" of the West and told foreign powers to stop backing the rebels.
Image grab from state-run Syrian TV shows Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad making a public address on the latest developments in the country and the region on January 6, 2013. Assad in the rare speech on Sunday, calling for a national dialogue to end the 21-month conflict, but stressed he would not talk to those who have taken up arms against his regime.
The main Syrian opposition grouping, the National Coalition, immediately rejected the plan while Britain described Assad's speech, his first in public in seven months, as "beyond hypocritical". The European Union renewed its calls for him to step aside.
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