Assad: Mandela's life a lesson to tyrants

Syrian President Bashar Assad, two and a half years into a blood-soaked rebellion against his rule, mourned Nelson Mandela's death on Friday, calling his life an inspiration for freedom fighters and a lesson to tyrants.

In a post on its Facebook page on Friday, Assad called the South African statesman "an inspiration in the values of love and human brotherhood", adding that "His history of struggle has become an inspiration to all the vulnerable peoples of the world, in the expectation that oppressors and aggressors will learn the lesson that in the end it is they who are the losers," the statement said. (Reuters)