12 January 2012
Dr Christopher Phillips commented on a recent speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In his fourth national address since protests began in March, al-Assad said to a crowd at Damascus University that “victory is near” and a campaign by foreign media against Syria has “failed”.
“The content of the speech was very similar to what we saw in earlier speeches, where he blamed conspiracies, the West, the outside world for what was happening in Syria,” said Dr Phillips. “He offered a few superficial acknowledgments of faults and a few superficial ‘reforms,’ and a referendum on a constitution in March but there wasn't anything of any substance, it was mostly defiant.”
