President Assad Makes Rare Public Address over Latest Developments

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is making a rare public address Sunday as Patriot missiles are being deployed along the Turkish border in a move deemed provocative.

“President Bashar al-Assad will deliver a speech on Sunday morning on the latest developments in Syria and the region,” the official SANA news agency said late on Saturday, without specifying what time he will speak.

Assad last spoke in public on June 3 when he addressed parliament in Damascus. In November he gave an interview to Russian television in which he dismissed suggestions he would go into exile, saying he would “live and die” in Syria.

Al-Akhbar newspaper said Assad was ready to offer a “solution” to the conflict. Citing anonymous sources, the daily said Assad may submit a five-point plan that would not preclude him from contesting the next presidential election when his current term ends in 2014.

The plan also provides a ceasefire, allowing international observers to monitor its application, a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, forming a national government and holding free elections for a new parliament, it said.

On Saturday, the deployment began of US Patriot missiles near Turkey’s border with Syria. The US will transport some 400 troops to Turkey in the coming days to operate two Patriot batteries, the Germany-based US European Command said. Germany, The Netherlands and the United States agreed to supply the ground-to-air missile batteries in a suspicious move by these anti-Syrian countries. The Patriot systems are expected to become operational later this month.

Iran and Russia oppose the Patriot deployment, fearing that it could spark a regional conflict that also draws in NATO.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is due in Cairo on January 9 for talks on the crisis, Iranian media reports said on Saturday.