Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Photo: wiki commons.

It appears that there is no end in sight for the deadly Syrian conflict, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected suggestions that he step down. In an interview in English with Russia’s RT television, Assad vowed to “live and die in Syria.”

“I am not a puppet and the West did not manufacture me in order that I leave to the West or any other country.”

He added, “I am Syrian, I am Syrian-made, and I must live and die in Syria.”

Recent estimates by activists have more than 36,000 dead in Syria since the conflict began in early 2011.