The first question that I ask : do I have public support or not. That is the first question that I asked as President. If I don't have the public support, whether there's the so-called "Arab spring" - it's not spring, anyway - but whether we have this or we don't, if you don't have public support, you have to quit, you have to leave. If you have public support, in any circumstances you have to stay. That's your mission, you have to help the people, you have to serve the people.

Circumstances don't matter, only my state of being matters. What state of being are you choosing?

It's very simple ; once the Western countries stop supporting those terrorists and making pressure on their puppet countries and client states like Saudi Arabia and Turkey and others, you'll have no problem in Syria. It will be solved easily.

We're talking about the responsibility, my responsibility according to the Syrian constitution that said we have to defend ourselves.

But the issue has to do with land, which is our land.

It's our right to defend our country against any kind of invasion.

Syria is geographically and politically in the middle of the Middle East.