Assad warns of 'earthquake' if West intervenes in Syria

Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad has warned that Western military action against his country could cause an "earthquake" that could create "another Afghanistan" and burn the whole of the Middle East.

His warning came hours after UN chief Ban Ki-moon asked Syria to "immediately" end attacks on civilians, saying the violence is "unacceptable."

Western countries "are going to ratchet up the pressure, definitely," Assad told the UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper in a rare interview.

"But Syria is different in every respect from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen. The history is different. The politics is different. 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. Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? "Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region."

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in two Syrian cities on Friday to demand the imposition of a Libyan-style no-fly zone over the country, as the bloodiest clashes left 40 people dead on the same day.

According to the United Nations, at least 3,000 civilians, including 187 children, have been killed during the seven-month long protests against the regime.

Thousands more have been imprisoned. The Syrian government says 1,200 members of the security forces have also died.

The paper said 46-year-old Assad admitted that "many mistakes" had been made by his forces in the early part of the uprising, but insisted that only "terrorists" were now being targeted.

"We have very few police, only the army, who are trained to take on al-Qaeda," Assad said.

"If you sent in your army to the streets, the same thing would happen. Now, we are only fighting terrorists. That's why the fighting is becoming much less."

On Friday alone, opposition groups claimed that 40 people were killed in clashes.

Seventeen soldiers also died in overnight clashes with suspected army deserters in the city, which foreign journalists are forbidden to enter.

Syria was condemned on Saturday by Arab League foreign ministers for its "continued killings of civilians".

Assad claimed that he had responded differently to the Arab Spring than other, deposed Arab leaders.

"We didn't go down the road of stubborn government," he said.

"Six days after (the protests began) I commenced reform. People were skeptical that the reforms were an opiate for the people, but when we started announcing the reforms, the problems started decreasing. This is when the tide started to turn. This is when people started supporting the government."

Some Damascus-based opposition leaders say the reforms, which include laws ostensibly allowing demonstrations and political parties, are a start, but not enough.

However, the leaders of the main protests say they are meaningless and President Assad must go, the newspaper reported.

Assad said: "The pace of reform is not too slow. The vision needs to be mature. It would take only 15 seconds to sign a law, but if it doesn't fit your society, you'll have division... It's a very complicated society."

He described the uprising as a "struggle between Islamism and pan-Arabism (secularism), adding: "We've been fighting the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1950s and we are still fighting with them."