Syria’s Assad says intervention will burn region

Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned against Western intervention in his country’s 7-month-old uprising, saying such action would trigger an “earthquake” that “would burn the whole region.”

Mr. Assad’s comments, published in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, were made against a backdrop of growing calls from anti-regime protesters for a no-fly zone over Syria and increasingly frequent clashes between government troops and army defectors, which left at least 30 troops dead late Saturday.

“Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake,” Mr. Assad said. “Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?”

Mr. Assad’s remarks appeared to reflect his regime’s increasing concern about foreign intervention in the country’s crisis after the recent death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled by a popular uprising backed by NATO airstrikes.

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