Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his government is fighting a “regional and global battle” and that more time is needed to win the conflict against anti-government rebels trying to overthrow him.
His comments came as fighting renewed Wednesday between rebels and Syrian forces near the Taftanaz military airport, located between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA that 14 government troops were killed or injured at Taftanaz, while three rebels died during the clashes.
Taftanaz has been targeted several times by rebels entrenched in the two cities, which have suffered daily shelling by government troops.
In excerpts from an interview with Syria's privately-owned Addounia television, Mr. Assad described the situation on the ground as “practically better” but still unresolved.
The Syrian leader, who has vowed to defeat rebels he has characterized as Islamist terrorists, praised the army and security forces for their “heroic conduct.”
Mr. Assad also dismissed an idea being championed by neighboring Turkey of creating Western-imposed buffer zones within Syria to receive people displaced by the conflict.
The two countries once cultivated good relations but Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned against Mr. Assad over his violent response to the uprising.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday Ankara has discussed with the United Nations the possibility of housing Syrian refugees inside Syria and that his government expected the world body to take concrete steps towards this end.
Turkey has proposed the idea of a “safe zone” to be set up for civilians under foreign protection as fighting intensifies in the 17-month uprising. Up to 5,000 refugees a day have been crossing into Turkey during the past two weeks. The U.N. warned Tuesday that up to 200,000 people could settle there if the conflict worsens.
In Damascus, activists Wednesday reported a third day of army attacks on rebel strongholds in the eastern outer belt of the city.
The opposition Local Coordination Committees said warplanes and helicopters bombed and strafed those suburbs. The Britain-based Observatory reported attacks by combat helicopters on the eastern suburb of Saqba as well as shelling further into the city in the district of Zamalka.
Attacks in and around Damascus over the past week have killed hundreds of people.
Syrian authorities blame the uprising on a foreign conspiracy and accuse oil-rich Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in addition to the United States and Turkey, of backing “terrorists” seeking to oust Mr. Assad's government. VoA.