Embattled Syrian leader dismisses US entreaties

Syria’s president said that only Syrians can decide their future — a statement that appeared to dismiss US Secretary of State John Kerry’s remark that he would be willing to talk with Bashar Assad to help broker a political resolution to the country’s civil war.

Assad said Monday that any “talk about the future of the Syrian president is for Syrian people alone.” He added that Damascus is not concerned about comments made abroad.

The Syrian leader spoke to Iranian TV on Monday in remarks that were broadcast on Syrian state television. Tehran is one of Assad’s close allies.

Kerry said in an interview with CBS News aired Sunday that the US is pushing for Assad to seriously discuss a transition strategy to help end Syria’s four-year conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people.

“We have to negotiate in the end,” Kerry said. “And what we’re pushing for is to get [Assad] to come and do that, and it may require that there be increased pressure on him of various kinds in order to do that. We’ve made it very clear to people that we are looking at increased steps that can help bring about that pressure.”

Kerry did not elaborate on what that additional pressure would be.

Damascus has long accused Washington of militarizing Syria’s conflict.

“We are still listening to the comments and we have to wait for the actions and then we’ll decide,” Assad said, referring to Kerry’s proposal.

Kerry’s spokeswoman later stressed that the comments indicated no change in US policy, saying “there is no future for a brutal dictator like Assad in Syria.”

But Syrian media touted the statement as a reversal in US policy that acknowledged Assad’s “legitimacy.”

In his brief comments, Assad said any real change in the international community’s policy on Syria would require ending “political support of terrorists,” a charge his government regularly levels against backers of the Syrian opposition.

“We have no choice but to defend our country,” Assad added.

“Any international changes that come about within that framework are something positive, if they are honest and have an effect on the ground,” he said.

Syria’s conflict entered its fifth year Sunday with the regime emboldened by fading international attention and a growing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the rise of the Islamic State terror group

More than 220,000 people have been killed and half of the country’s population displaced, prompting rights groups to accuse the international community of “failing Syria.”

The conflict spiraled into a civil war after a government crackdown on demonstrators in March 2011.