Assad defends bloody crackdown on rebels

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad yesterday defended his government’s crackdown on opponents, saying a doctor performing messy emergency surgery does not have blood on his hands if he is trying to save a patient.

In his first speech since January, Assad appeared unmoved by scathing international criticism of his ferocious response to the 15-month-old revolt against his rule, which has killed up to 13,000 people, according to activist groups. He also denied responsibility for last week’s Houla massacre of more than 100 people, saying not even “monsters” would carry out such an ugly crime.

He said terrorists have pushed his country into war. “When a surgeon in an operating room... cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?” he said in a televised speech to parliament. “Or do we thank him for saving the patient?”