LIVE: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad makes a rare public address
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed a foreign conspiracy for trying to destabilise Syria.
He said the "external conspiracy is clear to everybody", as protests continue against his rule.In his first public remarks for months, he said: "Regional and international sides have tried to destabilise the country."
The UN said last month that more than 5,000 civilians have been killed since protests began in March last year.
President Assad's crackdown on the protests has led to international condemnation and sanctions.
A team of 165 monitors from the Arab League has been in Syria since December to monitor implementation of a peace plan that calls for an end to all violence, the removal of heavy weapons from cities and the release of all political prisoners.
The Arab League suspended Syria in November and imposed sanctions.
Criticising the regional grouping, Mr Assad said: "We were surprised Arabs did not stand with Syria".
He said Arab countries that opposed Syria were under outside pressure which was undermining their sovereignty.
But, he added, Syria would not "close its doors" to an Arab solution as long as "it respects Syria's sovereignty".
Mr Assad described the events of the past 10 months as regretful and said they had been a serious test for Syria.
However he ruled out snap reform in response to the unrest.
"We should link what happened before the crisis and post crisis and then embark on reform... We shouldn't build our reforms on this crisis," he said.
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