For Syrian rebels, Assad draws line in the sand

(CBS News) HATAY, Turkey - In Syria, where the dictator Bashar al-Assad is out to crush a rebellion that broke out 16 months ago, thousands of Syrians have been killed. The U.S., Turkey and other nations have said it's time for Assad to go.

In an interview -- in English -- with German television, Assad said he will not step down, and he accused the U.S. of meddling in Syrian affairs.

"It (the U.S.) is part of the conflict. They offered an umbrella - political support - to those gangs, to create instability - to destabilize Syria," Assad said in the interview.

The opposition believes that these types of comments are just more clear indication that the regime's mentality has not changed.

This is exactly type of rhetoric that President Assad has been using for over a year now and they also see it as evidence that special envoy from the U.N. Kofi Annan's peace plan is essentially doomed to fail because the opposition will not agree to a plan that allows President Assad to stay in power.

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President Assad with these comments has made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of stepping down voluntarily.

Some of the fiercest fighting has been near the border with Turkey. About 36,000 Syrian refugees are in Turkey now, and 300 more are crossing that border every single day.

This border has become incredibly tense in the last couple of weeks with Turkey bolstering its military presence here and saying that they are ready to meet the challenges that the Syrian military may put to them.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

It would be an easy matter to hit him with a missile while he is on the throne. It would save thousands of lives and is obviously the right thing to do. So forget about it. It won't happen for the reasons listed above.

[LCCLYDE]

He may remain but it is certainly not as it was even a year ago.The comment king of nothing fits.i cant see being a ruler over a population of subjects who hate you,who could assasinate you and a country whose main thing going is not progress but chaos of your own doing.He cant see that his citizens dont have his respect cause he dont care for them as well.Assad its OVER.cLOSE YOUR EYES AND TURN YOUR BACK,SOON THE ONLY LAND YOU'LL CONTROL IS A SQAURE BLOCK AROUND YOUR COMPOUND.

[JoeSocrates]

Assad is a typical dictator whose subjects have had enough already. Once the populace has had enough there will be a revolt. That is what Assad has been calling terrorist.

His own people don't want his oppression any more. He is not going to go peacefully. He will keep killing the revolutionaries as long as he can to intimidate those who haven't been killed.

When it gets down to the military left in the country there will be no one to do any work, and he will be King of Nothing.

I hope NATO's do nothing mindset can get over the fact the US is not going to arm the resistance anymore. We don't have the money, time, or interest in any more wars. With that situation-we find it readily apparent that the world has always waited for us to bail out any country in trouble.

No more of that I say. Let the NATO group do something for a change - and how is that going lately??

[Lerianis6]

Are you joking? It's only a very small part of the populace in Assad's country who have problems with him right now.

[smittyc]

It will be interesting to see if they can bluff Russia out of their military base. With an election in the United States looming and the American public opposed to more wars I think Assad is in the best position he will ever be in to act against the rebels.