Bashar Assad: Price of invasion more than world can afford

Syrian President Bashar Assad has dismissed the likelihood of any Western-led military intervention against his country, saying the domino effect of such adventurism will be unbearable for the global community.

“I do not think the West is going [to intervene], but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next. I think the price of this [foreign] invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” said Assad in a Thursday interview with Russia Today TV network.

Assad praised Syria as the “last stronghold” of “stability” and “coexistence” in the region, warning that the domino effect of any military strike against the country “will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific and you know the implication on the rest of the world.”

“I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country. I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria,” he pointed out.

Syria has been the scene of unrest since March 2011 and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the turmoil.

The anti-Syria Western states have been calling for Assad to step down, but Russia and China oppose the Western drive to oust the Syrian president.

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Western countries are seeking a UN Security Council resolution that will aggravate the situation in Syria in order to pave the way for the establishment of another government in the Arab state.