BBC News with Neil Nunes

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has accused anti-government forces of wanting to erase Syria's identity. In a rare speech, he

vowed

to restore security, as he put it, by "hitting terrorists with an iron fist".

"Our top priority now is to restore the security that we have enjoyed for decades and that has distinguished us not only regionally but also internationally. This cannot be achieved except by hitting the murderous terrorists with an iron fist. We will not

relent

to terrorism. We will not

be lenient towards

those using weapons to

stir up

trouble and division."

Mr Assad said regional and international groups were trying but failing to

destabilise

his country. The BBC world affairs correspondent John Simpson has this analysis of Mr Assad's speech.

Some of his ideas did seem pretty contradictory. When he denounced the foreign conspiracy against Syria, he clearly meant the Western powers plus various neighbouring states which have turned against him. At one point, he appeared to accuse the Arab League, whose observers are in Syria at the moment, of working for Western interests against him. There was no

hint

of compromise, just a few hard-to-keep promises about political reform. He seems to agree with the

hardliners

in his regime that only brute force will work.

The Syrian National Council, the largest opposition group, described Mr Assad's comments as an