Tagged: Bashar Assad

Syrian President Bashar Assad gave a defiant speech Sunday, giving little hope for an ease in the violence that has left more than 60,000 dead. Host Rachel Martin talks with Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for analysis.

Syrian President Bashar Assad addressed his country publicly for the first time in months on Sunday, maintaining his prior assertions that the violence estimated to have killed more than 60,000 of his citizens is the work of terrorists.

NPR's Peter Kenyon tells our Newscast Unit that Assad insisted he could win the battle. Kenyon reports:

Shocking statistics, such as the U.N.'s estimate that more than 60,000 people have died in Syria since anti-regime protests and fighting began in March 2011, tell only part of the story.

Amid continued bloodshed in several parts of Syria, international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held another round of talks with President Bashar Assad in Damascus. But there was no sign of progress toward a peace deal.