With the conflict ravaging his country in its third year, Syrian President Bashar Assad is maintaining a hardline stance, insisting he will triumph over rebel forces and all but ruling out dialogue.

In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, the embattled leader struck a combative tone, again dubbing the opposition forces fighting his regime as "terrorists" and saying there was "no option but victory."

Syrian President Bashar Assad warned on Wednesday the West that it will pay a heavy price for its alleged support of al-Qaida in Syria and said his regime's defeat is not an option.

Assad, whose has been battling an uprising since March 2011, told state television al-Ikhbariya in an interview that the West is playing with fire.

Fighting between rebels and loyalist forces raged in two Damascus neighborhoods on Tuesday while shelling of a village near the Syrian capital left four members of a family dead, a watchdog said.

"Fierce battles broke out in the Barzeh district of northern Damascus. Shelling in the area wounded five people and caused material damage," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A rumor about the death of Syrian President Bashar Assad was massively shared on social media websites on Sunday, the French weekly magazine Le Point reported.

"News about Assad being shot dead by his Iranian bodyguard have not been confirmed yet,” the magazine said, revealing that the opposition's Free Syrian Army has denied such reports.

Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad paid an unexpected visit to an educational center in the capital Damascus on Wednesday, the presidency said on its official Facebook page.

"President Assad made a surprise visit to the Educational Center for Fine Arts where the education ministry was honoring the families of students who were martyred as a result of terrorist acts, to honor the parents himself," the presidency wrote, alongside photos of Assad at the center.

Syria's President Bashar Assad comes across as a remorseless autocrat ready to go to any lengths to stay in power, despite military setbacks and growing ever more isolated from much of the world, observers found.

"He appears relaxed and confident, and certainly doesn't give the impression of being about to quit," said Hala Jaber, a Sunday Times reporter who recently interviewed Assad.

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday hailed Turkish opposition to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's backing for the revolt that began in Syria nearly two years ago, in a statement seen by Agence France Presse.

The statement comes after Assad met a Turkish opposition delegation.

President Bashar Assad on Wednesday mourned the death of Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez as a "great loss" for himself and the Syrian people.

"The demise of this unique leader is as much a great loss for me personally and the Syrian people as it is for the people of Venezuela," Assad said in a statement broadcast on state television.

The opposition National Coalition said on Friday it refuses to accept President Bashar Assad in any talks on ending Syria's war, as part of a "framework" it has drawn up for solutions to the conflict.

The Coalition issued the framework after a meeting in Cairo to discuss a proposal by its chief, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, to hold peace talks with regime representatives, a move that ruffled feathers in the umbrella opposition group.

Syria's President Bashar Assad said Tuesday state institutions and the country's citizens must engage in a "collective effort" to ease the effects of the spiraling war, state news agency SANA said.

Assad made his call during a first meeting with his government after a reshuffle of five ministerial posts on Saturday.