Assad determined to keep on fighting

Syria’s president defied international pressure to end the year-old crackdown on an uprising against him and said yesterday he was determined to go on fighting what he called “foreign-backed terrorism”.

After a powerful American senator called for air- strikes on Syria, President Barack Obama said unilateral US military action against President Bashar Assad’s regime would be a mistake.

The US said it is proposing a new UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to violence in Syria, first by government forces and then by opposition fighters. Russia and China, powerful allies that have blocked a Security Council resolution against Syria, made clear they were still standing by the regime in Damascus.