the series of excerpts from the interview , conducted last sunday in damascus , has provided a rare insight into mr. assad ’s thinking both on his plight at home and on regional relationships , strained by the action of syrian gunners who shot down a turkish warplane over the mediterranean last month .
he said baghdad has for years warned damascus about al - qaida traffic between iraq and syria .
syria says that a 16 - month .
but , in the third installment of an interview which turkey ’s cumhuriyet newspaper has published this week , mr. assad showed no readiness to heed either cease - fire calls or a plan proposed by kofi annan , the special envoy on syria , for a transitional government .
hoshyar zebari told reporters thursday that the bodies of the two pilots , found a day earlier at the bottom of the eastern mediterranean 8.6 nautical miles from syria to the rest of the mideast .
most of the suicide bombers , foreign fighters , elements of al qaeda used to slip into iraq has reinforced security along its 680 km ( 422 miles ) desert border with syria .
gen. robert mood of norway , who commands the united nations monitors , told reporters on thursday that “ the escalation of violence , allow me to say to an unprecedented level , obstructed our ability to observe , verify , report as well as assist in local dialogue .
baghdad iraq has " solid information " that al qaeda militants are crossing from iraq into syria to carry out attacks and has sent reinforcements to the border , the foreign minister said on thursday .
assad , who belongs to the minority alawite sect , an offshoot of shi'ite islam , also says much of the violence in syria bears the fingerprints of al qaeda and its sunni muslim islamist ideology .