BEIRUT — Scotching any suggestion he might flee Syria, President Bashar Al-Assad Thursday insisted he will “live and die” in Syria. The embattled president also warned that any Western military intervention to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond. “I'm not a puppet, and I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country,” he told Russia Today TV. “I am Syrian. I was made in Syria and to live and die in Syria.” The broadcast comes two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people. In Geneva, the Red Cross said the civil war in Syria was in a downward spiral since summer making it impossible for it to cope with some of the country's humanitarian needs. Assad also made an ominous threat against foreign intervention, saying it would have a “domino impact” on the world. “I think that the cost of foreign invasion of Syria, if it happened, would be greater than one that the whole world can afford,” he told Russia Today. “Because if there were problems in Syria, particularly as we are the last bastion of secularism, stability and coexistence in the region, it will have a domino impact that will affect the world from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.” Cameron broached the idea of giving Assad “safe passage” if that's what it takes to stop the bloodshed in Syria. “Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria,” Cameron told Al-Arabiya TV. “Of course I would favor him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he's done. I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain, but if he wants to leave, he could leave; that could be arranged.” Even Tunisia, the first country in the region last year to oust its longtime ruler, has offered asylum to Assad. Assad's defiant remarks coincided with a landmark meeting in Qatar Thursday of Syria's fractious opposition to hammer out an agreement on a new umbrella body uniting rebel groups inside and outside Syria amid growing international pressure to put their house in order and prepare for a post-Assad transition. The Syrian National Congress (SNC) announced the formation of a “national conference” in which “all opposition groups participate, with SNC having the highest percentage of representation.” “The National Conference shall consist of 300 participants from the SNC, local councils in the liberated areas, defected technocrats, independent opposition groups and national armed resistance groups under the umbrella of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army,” the group said. Meanwhile, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said his organization was unable to “cope” with the increasingly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria. “The seriousness of the crisis is deepening every day and this trend has been uninterrupted since the summer,” he said in Geneva. — Agencies
