Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Photo: reuters.com)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday he welcomed a US-Russian peace initiative to end Syria’s civil war but had no plans to resign, in an interview with an Argentine newspaper. “To resign would be to flee,” he told the Clarin when asked if he would consider stepping aside as called for by US Secretary of State John Kerry. He said that he doesn’t know if Kerry or anyone else has received the power of the Syrian people to talk in their name about who should go and who should stay. That will be determined by the Syrian people in the 2014 presidential elections. Assad spoke to Clarin and the Argentine state news agency Telam in a lengthy interview in Damascus in which he also denied that his government has used chemical weapons against the civilian population. He added, however, that he does not believe that many Western countries really want a solution in Syria and doesn’t think that the forces that support the terrorists want a solution to the crisis. His comments come amid a rare joint push by the United States and Russia to convene a peace conference in Geneva that would bring together members of the regime and the rebels fighting to oust Assad.