Assad condemns Arab League and offers reform

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to strike “terrorists” with an iron fist and derided the Arab League for its attempts to halt violence in a 10-month-old revolt against his rule.

The speech, Assad’s first public address since June, contained vague promises of reform, but no concessions that might split an opposition now determined to end more than four decades of domination by the Assad family.

Assad, 46, offered a referendum on a new constitution in March before a multi-party parliamentary election that has been much postponed. Under the present constitution, Assad’s Ba’ath party is designated as “the leader of the state and society”. But the Syrian leader gave no sign he was willing to relinquish the power he inherited on his father’s death in 2000.