Syria’s Assad says army faces shortfall in manpower

Assad’s speech, while confident, comes as his battered country is host to the extremist Islamic State group, which is targeted in daily U.S.-led airstrikes.

He said groups fighting to topple him had received increased backing from their state sponsors in a reference to countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Assad has given interviews to several Arab and worldwide media outlets in the meantime.

“But that doesn’t mean we can talk about collapse”, he insisted.

Hezbollah fighters and the Syrian army have made significant gains in their battle against Takfiri militants’ campaign of terror in the Qalamoun region, the mountainous area bordering Lebanon and close to the Syrian capital.

“There were areas where we wanted to show our commitment”, he said. “Concern for our soldiers forces us to let go of some areas”. He added that: “Every inch of Syria is precious”.

SANA news agency reported that President Bashar al-Assad issued a special decree according to which defectors inside the country have a thirty-day window, and those who are outside, sixty days to report themselves to the authorities.

To help bolster the ranks of an army severely depleted by four years of battling armed insurgents, Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday announced an amnesty for men at home and overseas who have dodged conscription.

Speaking in Damascus, Assad also said any “dialogue that is not based on the fight against terrorism would be meaningless”.

Kurdish forces have been the main local forces in Iraq and Syria who have managed so far, depending only on their own resources, to deal major blows to the Islamic State group and take back towns and territories from them.