Assad Vows Syria Will Defeat 'Conspiracy' at Any Price

President Bashar Assad said on Sunday that Syria would defeat what he described as a foreign plot being waged against the country, according to the official SANA news agency.

"The Syrian people will not allow this conspiracy to achieve its objectives" and will defeat it "at any price," Assad said.

"What is happening now is not only directed at Syria but the whole region. Because Syria is the cornerstone, foreign powers are targeting it so their conspiracy succeeds across the entire region."

Assad has long described the brutal 17-month conflict as a fight against foreign "terrorists" aided by the West and Syria's Sunni Muslim foes in the region, including Saudi Arabia.

"Syria is continuing its strategy of resistance... despite the joint efforts by Western and some regional countries to make it change its stance," he said.

Assad was speaking during a meeting with the visiting head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, Aladin Borujerdi, in Damascus.