For the fourth time, Bashar Al-Assad showed the Syrian people and the world that he continues to use the same old strategy of denying and misleading – a strategy he has adopted over the past 10 months – and confirmed that his regime will move forward in and escalate its battle against the popular revolution in Syria. It is obvious that Assad instructed his forces to commit more massacres, and he (the un-elected leader) corroborated that his regime is going to continue to beat the activists with “an iron fist.” He also described the activists as terrorists, murderers, and criminals. This description indicates Assad’s intent to kill more Syrians and cause more bloodshed under the guise that the regime is confronting a vast conspiracy from outsiders who aim to dismantle Syria and its sovereignty.

This is another example of the regime’s flagrant disregard for the Arab League’s efforts to reach a solution to the Syrian crisis and its attempt to demolish what the Arab League has done on this matter.

The speech of the president who inherited his job was insolent and arrogant, as usual, and attempted to detract from the fact that he monopolizes authority, from his regime’s corrupt institutions to the billionaires of his entourage. His practices have been to issue a mere skeleton of organizational and legal reforms for Syrians called the “Development and Improvement Era.” Bashar Al-Assad has assigned himself the role of evaluator of Syrians’ loyalty to their country, and describes them using words such as “betrayal” and “terrorism” at his whim.

There are obvious indications that the regime is starting to enter its weakest stages, especially given the famous steadfastness of the Syrian people and the widespread observations of the Strike for Dignity. The regime’s tone in blatantly challenging the Arab League and the International Community has escalated, as evidenced by the assignment of a long passage of the speech to the difficulties that the regime faces in managing the affairs of the country, military and politically, and by acknowledging that wide areas of the country are no longer under the regime’s control. This has required the involvement of the army and intelligence services to try to violently repress and kill. This also acknowledges the hard economic realities caused by both internal public pressure and international economic sanctions.

The LCC, which condemns the regime’s insistence on ignoring the Syrian people’s demands for democratic change and committing massacres in response to peaceful protest, believes that the regime is not in control, but rather is managed by dangerous men who are strangers to Syria’s national interests and human values; who believe in nothing other than absolute power; and who are forcing Syrians to choose to either submit to them or be tortured, killed, or displaced. This threatens the destruction of our country and makes it impossible for anyone to live in it. It also encourages international interference in Syria’s affairs. The LCC holds the regime responsibility for this intervention, which is becoming more of a reality every day as a result of the regime’s continued and escalated crimes against humanity. These acts require all Syrians, civilians and soldiers, to stand against the regime using any means necessary.

The LCC confirms that the fall of the regime will be a normal outcome of the Revolution, and therefore calls on activists to use various forms of civil resistance and widen the participation of all sectors of the Syrian people in the Revolution. The LCC also looks forward to Arab and international participation in cutting off all resources that might support the regime as a means of paralyzing its repressive behavior. The regime also should be isolated legally, diplomatically, and economically.

Glory to our martyrs and victory to our Revolution.

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria