Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said yesterday that any political resolution to the current crisis, which has been raging for five years, must include “fighting terror”.
Despite his assertion that “everything is available” for the army, Al-Assad admitted that there is a “shortage in manpower”. In the televised speech, he noted that though thousands of soldiers deserted the army, recruitment rates have increased in the past two months.
“The obstacle in the way of the [military] forces is not related to planning, but we have a fatigue problem,” he said. “It is normal for the army to get tired but fatigue is one thing and defeat is something else.”
Al-Assad said that any army in the world that fights for more than four years would get tired but “the army’s fatigue does not mean that defeat is in its dictionary.”
He spoke of the Syrians’ “will and confidence” that the army will triumph. “There is no collapsing. We will persevere and achieve victory.”
The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as a popular uprising against the regime. It has resulted in 230,000 deaths, including more than 11,500 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and 80,000 of the regime’s soldiers and fighters.
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