London: Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad has warned that Western military action against his country could cause an 'earthquake' that could create 'another Afghanistan' and burn the whole of the Middle East.
His warning came hours after UN chief Ban Ki-moon asked Syria to 'immediately' end attacks on civilians, saying the violence is 'unacceptable.'
Western countries "are going to ratchet up the pressure, definitely," Assad told the UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper in a rare interview.
"But Syria is different in every respect from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen. The history is different. The politics is different.
"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake. Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?
"Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region."
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in two Syrian cities on Friday to demand the imposition of a Libyan-style no-fly zone over the country, as the bloodiest clashes left 40 people dead on the same day.
According to the United Nations, at least 3,000 civilians, including 187 children, have been killed during the seven-month long protests against the regime. Thousands more have been imprisoned. The Syrian government says 1,200
members of the security forces have also died.
The paper said 46-year-old Assad admitted that 'many mistakes' had been made by his forces in the early part of the uprising, but insisted that only 'terrorists' were now being targeted.
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