Syrian President Assad describes opposition 'total failure'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has described the main opposition National Coalition as a "failure".

Calling it unreliable at both the popular and moral levels, Assad said in a speech that the opposition can have no political role in resolving the present crisis in the country.

Assad's speech comes a week after the army, backed by pro-regime paramilitary troops and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, reclaimed a strategic district of the central city of Homs.

Civilian protestors have been fighting against the ruling Ba'ath Government for the past two years, blaming the latter for unending corruption in the country.