Assad: Syria crisis can only be solved 'with iron fist'

Syria's crisis will only be solved by stamping out "terror", President Bashar Assad said, in reference to rebels fighting his regime.

In a rare speech on Syrian state television, Assad also dismissed the political opposition to his regime as a "failure" that could play no role in solving the country's brutal war. "No solution can be reached with terror except by striking it with an iron fist," said Assad. (AFP)