Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday stressed that his regime, battered by nearly two years of revolt, will not submit to pressure or "plots" against it, reported state news agency SANA.

"Syria will remain the beating heart of the Arab world and will not give up its principles despite the intensifying pressure and diversifying plots not only targeting Syria, but all Arabs," Assad said at a meeting with a Jordanian delegation in Damascus.

Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad was Thursday shown on state television attending prayers at a mosque in a northern district of Damascus to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.

The leader was shown in a live broadcast kneeling in al-Afram mosque flanked by Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, the highest Sunni religious authority in the country, and the religious endowments minister.

Syrian President Bashar Assad stressed on Monday that his country does not need the permission of any nation in the world to deal with its internal political issues, rejecting calling Syria's current events a revolution or a spring.

"These are battles of wills first and foremost,” Assad told Nasim Online news agency, adding that “the terrorist acts' aim is to destroy the country”.

Five civilians were killed in heavy fighting around a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital on Tuesday as rebels withdrew from a northwestern town after a night of clashes, a watchdog said.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi renewed a call for opposition figures to enter into a dialogue for peace offered by President Bashar Assad, despite domestic and rebel groups already rejecting the proposal.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's first speech since June showed he remains confident enough in his military strength after 21 months of conflict to thumb his nose at demands for his exit, analysts say.

Assad broke his silence after the regime weathered a storm of devastating events over the summer and autumn, said Thomas Pierret, Syria specialist and professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Syria's tolerated opposition on Monday rejected an offer to enter into talks with the government of President Bashar Assad to find a solution to end the 21-month conflict.

The National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB) issued its verdict even as Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi said his cabinet would meet soon to draw up a mechanism for the peace roadmap announced on Sunday by Assad.

Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad is to make a rare speech Sunday as violence rages in a civil war the U.N. says has killed more than 60,000 people and as U.S. missiles are deployed along the Turkish border.

The U.S. military said deployment of Patriot missiles was to help Turkey defend itself against any threat from neighboring Syria which is in the throes of a deadly 21-month civil war.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned Sunday's air strikes on Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad was nearing its end.

"It's a scandalous attack," the foreign minister told French television, accusing Assad wanting to "inflame the situation".

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Monday said he would support the rise of a new “secular” regime in Syria, accusing the Christians of the March 14 coalition of betting on the partitioning of the neighboring country and subsequently of Lebanon.

“We have never supported the alliance of minorities, but some March 14 Christians are betting on the partitioning of Syria although that would hurt the minorities,” Franjieh warned during an interview on MTV.

Ecuador said Thursday it has not offered Bashar Assad asylum amid speculation the embattled Syrian president was weighing Latin America as a place of refuge.

"Totally denied," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on his Twitter account. "No Syrian citizen has requested asylum in Ecuador, much less its current president."