Assad warns of crisis in Middle East

Beirut: Syrian President Bashar Assad warned in comments broadcast on Saturday that the fall of his regime or the breakup of his nation would cause a "domino effect" that would fuel Middle East instability for years, in his sharpest warning yet about the potential fallout of his country's civil war on neighbouring states. In Moscow, Russia's president said the Syrian conflict has become "a massacre" that must be stopped through peace talks, and repeated the Kremlin's firm rejection of calls for Assad's ouster. Assad accused his neighbours of stoking the revolt against his rule, saying "we are surrounded by countries that help terrorists and allow them to enter Syria." "Everybody knows that if the disturbances in Syria reach the point of country's breakup, or terrorist forces control Syria, or if the two cases happen, then this will immediately spill over into neighboring countries first, and later there will be a domino effect that will reach countries across the Middle East," he said. He also lashed out at Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was a close ally of Assad before the crisis began but then turned into one of his harshest critics. "When the Prime Minister (Erdogan), or the government or officials get involved in shedding Syrian people's blood there is no place for bridges between me and them or the Syrian people that don't respect them," Assad said.