Syrian president says not to submit to pressure

DAMASCUS, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lately said that Syria will not bow down as the conflict in Syria as well as the pressure to subjugate the country are set to continue.

"I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist the pressure being imposed on it," al-Assad told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper here in an interview published late Saturday.

Al-Assad warned that any western intervention in Syria would threaten peace across the Middle East region.

His comments came as his administration is facing swelling international pressures to end his alleged crackdown on anti- government movement, and internally as alleged army defectors have been carrying out assaults against security and army bases.

Syria has accused armed groups of assaulting civilians and army personnel in the country. It even accuses some Arab and foreign countries of supporting and arming such groups with the aim of toppling al-Assad's rule.

Meanwhile, Syria and the Arab League (AL) are studying amendments to the draft protocol regarding the legal status and the duties of the AL mission of observers.

The AL issued on Wednesday in Rabat of Morocco a draft deal to send an Arab mission of 500 observers to monitor the situation in Syria from the ground and gave the Syrian government three days to sign it after it suspended last week Syria's membership in the pan- Arab body.