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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has that his government had a duty to 'annihilate terrorists' to protect its people and ruled out any solution to the crisis imposed from outside the country. "The responsibility of the Syrian government is to protect all of our residents. You have a responsibility to annihilate terrorists in any corner of the country," Assad said during a rare interview with the Iranian state television. "When you eliminate a terrorist, it's possible that you are saving the lives of tens, hundreds, or even thousands," he said, referring to last month's massacre in the village of Houla in which over 100 people were killed. According to The Telegraph, Assad also firmly rejected any solution imposed from outside the country, emphasising his own commitment to reform instead. "We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria 's problems as well as we do," the paper quoted him, as saying. "We are moving forward with political reforms. But for terrorists and the governments that support them, reforms have no meaning," he added. Assad blamed Syria 's foes of trying to interfere in his country's internal affairs with UN resolutions and by bringing about the failure of Kofi Annan's peace plan. He also said that he did not believe the crisis would result in military action in Syria . What happened in Libya was 'not a solution to be copied because it took Libya from one situation into a much worse one. We all now see how the Libyan people are paying the price,' he added.

Assad says he 'has duty to annihilate terrorists' to protect Syrians