West will pay for backing al-Qaeda, says Assad

President Bashar al-Assad predicted on Wednesday that the West would "pay the price" for allegedly siding with al-Qaeda in the Syrian uprising.

A bullish Assad sought to exploit the West's embarrassment over the fractured opposition to his rule.

"The West has paid heavily for funding al-Qaeda in its early stages," he said during a rare appearance on state television. "Today, it is doing the same in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price in the heart of Europe and the United States."

Assad was attempting to draw a parallel between American support for the mujahiddin in Afghanistan in the 1980s, when Osama bin Laden founded al-Qaeda, and the de facto alliance that has emerged between Western-backed rebels in Syria and hardline Islamists.

Assad's words suggested that he has been buoyed by last week's announcement by Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the most powerful rebel groups, that it owed allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaeda. Jabhat al-Nusra has been blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States, but is still fighting alongside - and sharing weapons with - rebel factions supported by the West.

Assad also criticised his neighbours for backing the uprising. Jordan has recently allowed a substantial quantity of arms - apparently bought by Saudi Arabia - to cross its border into Syria.

"I cannot believe that hundreds [of rebels] are entering Syria with their weapons while Jordan is capable of arresting any single person with a light arm for going to resist in Palestine," said Assad in the interview, which marked the anniversary of Syria's independence from France.

His forces have recently managed to recapture territory from the rebels. Last weekend, they broke the siege on two army bases located south of Aleppo. Hamadiya and Wadi Deif, which sit on the vital highway linking Damascus with Aleppo, had been largely cut off for five months. But the army successfully ambushed rebels near the road, killing at least 20 in a major reversal of fortune.

The insurgents are now trying to regain control of the highway, fearing that Assad would otherwise be able to resupply his beleaguered battalions in Aleppo.

The rebels have been able to take military bases and towns in northern Syria, but have not managed to muster the resources for a major push southwards towards Damascus. Instead, they have been fighting on new fronts in the south, between the capital and the Jordanian border, but with only mixed results.

With no end to the war in sight and a rising number of casualties, the United Nations issued an urgent appeal this week for outside powers to halt the fighting. The widely reported figure of 70,000 dead is probably an underestimate, according to aid workers.

The Western-backed Friends of Syria group is due to meet again in Turkey this weekend, with John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, attending. But its stated position opposing Assad's regime means that other key players - such as Russia and China - refuse to take part. They continue to block any UN action against Assad. They argue the West should put pressure on the opposition to negotiate with the regime without preconditions. But the rebels say they will not deal directly with Assad. "Right now, we see this process is making a negative contribution," said Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, on a visit to Istanbul. "When one party is isolated in any mechanism set up to deal with a conflict, we miss the ground for dialogue."

Despite Russia's concerns, Britain and France favour a fundamental review of the European Union arms embargo on Syria when it is considered next month.

-- Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt, will face a retrial for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters during the revolution of 2011. Mubarak was originally found guilty last June. The new case will open on May 11.