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| Syrian President Warns Against Foreign Intervention in Syria | Syrian President Warns Against Foreign Intervention in Syria |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — With battles flaring from the north to the south of his country, President Bashar al-Assad was quoted on Thursday as warning outside powers not to intervene militarily, saying the price of an invasion would be “more than the world can afford.” | |
| He also indicated that he would not heed Western proposals to leave Syria. | |
| “I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country,” he said. “I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.” | “I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country,” he said. “I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.” |
| A transcript of excerpts from an interview with Mr. Assad was posted in English on the Russia Today television news channel’s Web site on Thursday in advance of the conversation’s broadcast on Friday. | |
| Mr. Assad’s defiance — familiar throughout the months of uprising that have turned to civil war affecting all of Syria’s major cities — came a day after the regional consequences of the fighting seemed to assume ever more ominous tones. | Mr. Assad’s defiance — familiar throughout the months of uprising that have turned to civil war affecting all of Syria’s major cities — came a day after the regional consequences of the fighting seemed to assume ever more ominous tones. |
| For the first time on Wednesday, Turkey, a NATO member, publicly raised the idea of stationing Patriot missile batteries along its southern border with Syria. The move would effectively create a no-flight zone that could help safeguard refugees and give rebel fighters a portion of Syrian territory without fear of airstrikes by Syrian forces. | For the first time on Wednesday, Turkey, a NATO member, publicly raised the idea of stationing Patriot missile batteries along its southern border with Syria. The move would effectively create a no-flight zone that could help safeguard refugees and give rebel fighters a portion of Syrian territory without fear of airstrikes by Syrian forces. |
| Within Syria, insurgents escalated attacks on targets within earshot of Mr. Assad’s Damascus palace on Wednesday, killing a prominent judge with a car bomb and lobbing mortar shells at a neighborhood that houses central government offices and a military airfield. The assassination of the judge, reported by the official news agency, SANA, was the second high-profile killing of a top Assad loyalist in the Syrian capital this week and added to the impression of an intensifying insurgency in the 20-month-old conflict. | Within Syria, insurgents escalated attacks on targets within earshot of Mr. Assad’s Damascus palace on Wednesday, killing a prominent judge with a car bomb and lobbing mortar shells at a neighborhood that houses central government offices and a military airfield. The assassination of the judge, reported by the official news agency, SANA, was the second high-profile killing of a top Assad loyalist in the Syrian capital this week and added to the impression of an intensifying insurgency in the 20-month-old conflict. |
| It was not clear when Russia Today recorded the interview with Mr. Assad, who was shown speaking to an interviewer, Sophie Shevardnadze, sitting in a high-backed chair against the background of a carved wooden doorway. | It was not clear when Russia Today recorded the interview with Mr. Assad, who was shown speaking to an interviewer, Sophie Shevardnadze, sitting in a high-backed chair against the background of a carved wooden doorway. |
| Asked about possible armed intervention, Mr. Assad said: “We are the last stronghold of secularism and stability in the region and coexistence, let’s say, it will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific and you know the implication on the rest of the world.” | Asked about possible armed intervention, Mr. Assad said: “We are the last stronghold of secularism and stability in the region and coexistence, let’s say, it will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific and you know the implication on the rest of the world.” |
| He said he did not believe the West planned to intervene “but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next,” Mr. Assad said. The price of an “invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” he said, without elaborating. | He said he did not believe the West planned to intervene “but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next,” Mr. Assad said. The price of an “invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” he said, without elaborating. |
| The interview coincided with efforts in Doha, Qatar, to unify the fragmented opposition seeking Mr. Assad’s overthrow. It also came two days after Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain suggested that Mr. Assad could be given safe passage out of Syria as part of a peace settlement. | The interview coincided with efforts in Doha, Qatar, to unify the fragmented opposition seeking Mr. Assad’s overthrow. It also came two days after Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain suggested that Mr. Assad could be given safe passage out of Syria as part of a peace settlement. |
| On Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the fighting, said clashes erupted between rebel and government forces in the northern town of Ras al-Ain along the 550-mile border with Turkey. | |
| The rebels had infiltrated the town from two directions and, after hours of fighting, government forces stormed the town and killed 10 insurgents in a battle for the security headquarters in Ras al-Ain. Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolian News Agency said two Turkish civilians were injured by stray rounds from the fighting, prompting the Turkish military to send reinforcements to the area. | |
| Anti-government activists also reported fighting in the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began with peaceful demonstrations in March, 2011. Government troops were said to be shelling southern neighborhoods of Damascus, the capital, while, in the Old City, troops broke into homes to search for opponents. | |
Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London. | Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London. |