Assad Won't Rule Out Run for Re-Election in 2014

In an interview with Spiegel magazine Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he has yet to decide to whether he will run for re-election in 2014.

He said he was not “in a position” to make that call at the moment. Rather, it would depend on whether the has “the will of the people behind [him].”

According to Spiegel, Assad does admit mistakes have been made during his tenure as president: “There were personal mistakes made by individuals. Every human makes mistakes. A president also makes mistakes.”

But Assad says the alleged use of chemical weapons is not a mistake for which he will accept responsibility. “We did not use chemical weapons,” he said. Rather, “he accuses” rebel forces of using Sarin gas. Assad said any claim to the contrary is a “misstatement,” as is the claim that he is “a man who kills his own people.”

Assad said one of his biggest struggles right now is that “the West is more confident in Al Qaeda than [in him].”

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