Assad says Syria will not submit to plots, pressure

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

says that his country will not submit to pressure or " diversifying plots" against it. "Syria will remain the beating heart of the Arab world and will not give up its principles despite the intensifying pressure and diversifying plots not only targeting Syria, but all Arabs," Assad said at a meeting with a Jordanian delegation in Damascus on Monday. Assad’s remarks come after the leader of the foreign-backed Syrian opposition coalition, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, pledged allegiance to the Israeli regime if he managed to form a “new regime in Syria.” Khatib also admitted to having received information from US, French and German intelligence agencies on the bases and movements of the Syrian army. Meanwhile on Monday, violent clashes continued between Syrian army forces and militants in the capital, Damascus, and the western city of Homs, where a commander of the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Nusra Front was reportedly killed by army forces. The Syrian forces also killed and wounded a number of militants during clashes in the northwestern port city of Latakia. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence. The Syrian government has said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.