B. Al-Assad to the opposition: "The door to dialogue is open"

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says talks with the opposition groups are the sole solution to the unrest that has engulfed the Middle Eastern country for more than 18 months. Iranian Press TV informs about this. 

“The door to dialogue is open -- only talks with the opposition will solve the crisis," the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram Al-Arabi on Thursday quoted Assad as saying in an interview whose full text is to appear on Friday.

Assad added that “change cannot be achieved through foreign intervention.”

The Syrian leader noted that the foreign-backed insurgents fighting against his government will be finally defeated.

"The armed groups exercise terrorism against the state. They are not popular within society ... they will not be victorious in the end".

He also said he was "neither optimistic nor pessimistic" about the mission assigned to international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, whom he met on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed opposition to foreign intervention in Syria and called for a peaceful "Syrian solution" to the crisis.