Syria's Assad vows to defeat conspirators

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Syria's Assad vows to defeat conspirators

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President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance on Wednesday.

11 January,2012 10:11 pm

He vowed to defeat a conspiracy against Syria a day after he blamed foreign interests for stoking months of deadly violence.Meanwhile, a French television journalist was killed in the flashpoint city of Homs, the first Western reporter to die since protests erupted in March.He was identified by France 2 as Gilles Jacquier, an award-winning correspondent who had worked for the channel since 1999 and had covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Israel.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called for a probe, saying in a statement: We vigorously condemn this odious act.Other reporters were also wounded when a rocket exploded as they were on a government-organised trip, an AFP photographer said.The photographer said one of those hurt was a Belgian, who was hit in the eye.Jens Franssen, a reporter with Belgiums VRT television, said around 15 journalists on the visit were in Homs, when three or four grenades exploded near us. A French colleague probably did not survive.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rockets hit between the quarters of Akrama and Al-Nuzha where there was a group of journalists. A Western journalist was killed, as well as six Syrians, and there were also wounded.Militants in Homs blamed the authorities for the incident. The Observatory did not lay any blame.Assad, speaking to tens of thousands of cheering supporters in the capitals Omayyad Square, said that without a doubt we will defeat the conspiracy, which is nearing its end and will also be the end for (the conspirators) and their plans.Casually dressed in a jacket and open-necked shirt, a confident-looking Assad stood at the edge of the throng, security guards in front of him, and said: I came here to draw from your strength. Thanks to you, I have never felt weak.His wife Asma was also present, smiling and looking relaxed.There were pro-regime demonstrations in other cities, and Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman claimed that government workers had been forced to attend, with soldiers in the southern city of Daraa marching in civilian garb.Whoever wants to talk should come down into the street, said Assad, as he thanked his backers, many holding his portrait or waving Syrian flags, for supporting the institutions of the state and the army.The United Nations estimated last month that more than 5,000 people had been killed in the crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in March, and many of them have been gunned down during street protests.Damascus accuses armed terrorist gangs of fomenting the bloodshed.In a speech on Tuesday, his first public appearance in months, Assad vowed to crush terrorism with an iron fist.Regional and international parties who are trying to destabilise Syria can no longer falsify the facts and events, the embattled leader said in the nearly two-hour speech.That prompted opposition movements to accuse him of pushing Syria toward civil war and world powers to accuse him of trying to shift the blame for the 10 months of bloodletting in the protests against his regime.Amid the finger-pointing, activists said four civilians were killed on Wednesday near the central city of Hama and that loyalist troops were clashing with deserters. --AFP