Assad ‘peace plan’ dismissed as ploy by critics

A defiant president Bashar al-Assad presented what he described as an initiative yesterday to end the war in Syria, but his opponents dismissed it as a ploy to cling to power.

Appearing before cheering supporters at Damascus Opera House, it was his first such speech since June, and his first public appearance since November.

He called for mobilisation in a “war to defend the nation”, describing rebels fighting him as terrorists and foreign agents with whom it was impossible to negotiate.