Assad Says His Government Facing a 'Global Battle'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his government is fighting a “regional and global battle” and that more time is needed to win the conflict against anti-government rebels trying to overthrow him.

His comments came as fighting renewed Wednesday between rebels and Syrian forces near the Taftanaz military airport, located between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that 14 government troops were killed or injured at Taftanaz, while three rebels died during the clashes.

Taftanaz has been targeted several times by rebels entrenched in the two cities, which have suffered daily shelling by government troops.

In excerpts from an interview with Syria’s privately-owned Addounia television, Assad described the situation on the ground as “practically better,” but still unresolved.

The Syrian leader, who has vowed to defeat rebels he has characterized as Islamist terrorists, praised the army and security forces for their “heroic conduct.”

Assad also dismissed an idea being championed by neighboring Turkey of creating Western-imposed buffer zones within Syria to receive people displaced by the conflict.

The two countries once cultivated good relations, but Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned against Assad over his violent response to the uprising.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday Ankara has discussed with the United Nations the possibility of housing Syrian refugees inside Syria and that his government expected the world body to take concrete steps towards this end.