Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denies he is responsible for the killing of thousands of protesters, telling a United States television network he was not in charge of the forces behind the crackdown.
In a rare interview, Assad spoke on Tuesday to veteran ABC News journalist Barbara Walters in a bid to defend himself amid growing global condemnation of the nine-month-old crackdown, which the UN says has killed 4000 people.
ABC News plans to air the interview today but a reporter for the network, seeking US reaction at a State Department briefing, quoted Assad as saying: "I'm President. I don't own the country, so they're not my forces."
