Syrian president calls for dialogue

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday called for a transparent dialogue between the Syrians, as clashes continued between armed rebels and government troops. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a total of 12 rebels and 19 regular troops were killed Sunday, as a result of clashes in Syria's coastal Latakia province. The clashes at Jabal al-Akrad area have begun when the armed rebels unleashed wide-scale attacks against positions of the Syrian army at dawn, according to the Observatory. Earlier in the day, the pro-government Sham FM radio said that armed rebels in large numbers attacked three villages in the countryside of Latakia, killing at least five Syrian soldiers. The rebels focused their offensive between al-Haffeh and Slinfe towns, the report said, adding that violent clashes also erupted on several other fronts between the rebels and government troops in the province. Citing medical sources, the radio said tens of civilians were hospitalized, including children, and there were unconfirmed reports about civilian hostages in the hands of the rebels. The clashes came as the rebels have seemingly opted to open new fronts to confuse the Syrian army whose troops are stretched on battles across the country. The attack against Latakia also came to cover for the rebels' losses in the central province of Homs, where the Syrian troops stripped the rebels of two major areas over the past month -- al- Qussair and al-Khalidieh. Latakia province has a special importance as it houses towns and villages inhabited by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, to whom the ruling elite in Syria belongs. The rebel Free Syrian Army has threatened to carry out "qualitative" operations against government troops in response to what its leaders say "the regime's brutality," and the rebels have reportedly received their long-awaited arms shipments promised by some Western and Arab countries, including the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In the same day, however, President Bashar al-Assad lashed out at the Syrian opposition groups, mostly the one in exile, accusing it of not wanting a political solution. Assad made the remarks during an iftar banquet held in the capital Damascus with the participation of a number of society groups and key ministers of his government. Assad said his country needed a transparent dialogue between the Syrians, stressing that no one but the Syrian people were capable of finding a solution to the 28-month-old crisis. "The overseas opposition does not even represent themselves ... they represent the countries that support them," Assad said, adding that his administration has agreed to take part in the Geneva conference despite the fact that the opposition has no real representation. "If we want to get out of the crisis, there should be no exception to any means that could help us," he noted. He projected the status quo as a confrontation between the homeland and the outlaws. "All methods have been tried and there is nothing left but to defend ourselves by our hands," he said.