Assad scoffs at Western calls for ouster

DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday scoffed at Western calls for his ouster and rejected them as "worthless," in an interview with state television.

"While withholding comment, we tell them that their words are worthless," Assad said.

"Such remarks should not be made about a president who was chosen by the Syrian people and who was not put in office by the West, a president who was not made in the United States."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011