Assad’s comments came in a pre-recorded interview with al Manar television, a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah.

Dozens of Hezbollah militants are said to be fighting alongside Syrian forces in Qusayr the since May 19, when government forces launched an offensive to recapture the strategic town near the Lebanese border. Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry said thousands of Hezbollah fighters were contributing significantly to the conflict in Syria.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said earlier this week that Hezbollah would fight in Syria until Assad’s survival was assured.

Assad, however, downplayed Hezbollah’s presence in Syria in his interview, saying that the number of fighters the Lebanese group had sent to his country was a “drop in the ocean” compared with the “hundreds of thousands” of Syrian government troops fighting against rebels.

“Logically speaking, if Hezbollah or the resistance wanted to defend Syria by sending fighters, how many could they send – a few hundred, a thousand or two? We are talking about a battle in which hundreds of thousands of Syrian troops are involved against tens of thousands of terrorists.”

Reports have said up to 4,000 Hezbollah fighters have joined forces with the Syrian military, which has claimed to be winning the battle, Al Jazeera said.

He noted that the timing of the Qusayr battle is linked to the “Israeli escalation”.

President Bashar al-Assad also said Syria would be willing to attend peace talks with the opposition in principle with the condition that anything agreed upon would be subject to the approval of the Syrian people through a referendum.

“Simply put, our only condition is that anything agreed upon in any meeting inside or outside the country, including the conference, is subject to the approval of the Syrian people through a popular referendum. This is the only condition. Anything else doesn’t have any value. That is why we are comfortable with going to the conference. We have no complexes. Either side can propose anything, but nothing can be implemented without the approval of the Syrian people. And as long as we are the legitimate representatives of the people, we have nothing to fear.”

Assad was referring to talks, backed by Russia and the US  next month in Geneva. Peace talks aim at finding a political solution to the country’s civil war.

On the other hand, the National Coalition said it will not take part in would not participate in the Geneva talks until the international community intervened to end a siege in Qusayr, a town in Homs province near the Lebanese border.

Mali’s newly appointed prime minister, Diango Sissoko, was called to take urgent measures to end rights abuses by the security forces and address rising ethnic tensions linked to the occupied northern provinces by Human Rights Watch. Sissoko was appointed prime minister of the country’s transitional government on December 11, 2012, a day after the military forced Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra to resign.

“Mali’s new prime minister needs to tackle an array of human rights problems, but an abusive military and rising ethnic tensions in the country should top the list,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If not addressed, these abuses will seriously interfere with organizing national elections and worsen conditions in the north.”

Pro-government militias and ethnically allied youth groups have prepared lists of people in the north who would be targeted for reprisal once the government forces retake control. People who helped prepare the lists informed Human Rights Watch that those listed include combatants and supporters from factions that participated in the conquest of the north.

The human rights situation in Mali has drastically deteriorated in 2012 following a separatist Tuareg rebellion and Islamist occupation in the north, and political upheaval generated by a March military coup. Human Rights Watch research in Mali since April found that security forces loyal to coup leader Capt. Amadou Sanogohave been implicated in numerous serious abuses including torture, enforced disappearance, and the intimidation of opposition voices. Outside the capital, the Malian army has arbitrarily detained and executed mostly Tuareg and Arab men for their alleged connections to rebel groups in the north.

People from various ethnic groups also told Human Rights Watch that they were concerned that ethnic tensions were being fueled by the political manipulation of ethnicity by some political and military leaders. They feared that if the tensions remained not acted upon, it could result in incidents of deadly collective punishment and ethnic violence.

On October 12, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution No. 2071 in response to Mali’s request for an international military force to recover control over the north. Many northern residents and militiamen who spoke to Human Rights Watch expressed concern that such an intervention might be a catalyst for acts of collective punishment, particularly against the Tuareg. One said, “The danger will come from the moment the intervention kicks off.”

To address long-standing patterns of impunity in Mali, the government should establish a national independent Commission of Inquiry into the abuses during past rebellions with a view to making recommendations on accountability, and a truth-telling mechanism to explore the dynamics that gave rise to Mali’s multi-faceted crisis, and make recommendations aimed at ensuring better governance and preventing a repetition of past violations. Any future negotiated settlement among the warring factions should reject an amnesty for those responsible for serious crimes in violation of international law.

“The coup in Mali has ushered in a period that entrenches the power of the gun over the rule of law,” Dufka said. “The new prime minister should act promptly to reverse this situation and place human rights protections at the top of his agenda.”

Tuareg civilians told Human Rights Watch they feared reprisals, primarily from several pro-government militias, whose few thousand members are largely Songhai and Peuhl. Since June these militias have concentrated in several camps in and around the town of Sévaré, 623 kilometers from Bamako. Sévaré lies just south of the informal division between the Islamist-controlled north and government-controlled south. The largest of these militias, the Ganda-Koi and Ganda-Izo, have received training and some logistical support from the Malian army, but have not been armed or given a formal security role, according to militia members.

Numerous militia members told Human Rights Watch that these militias, as well as youth groups made up of members of northern ethnic groups – the Songhai, Peuhl, Bozo, and Bella – had apparent plans to “settle scores” with their perceived northern opponents.

“Collaborators” who provided intelligence, participated in the recruitment of local boys and men into the armed groups, and served as community liaisons would also be targeted, as would local businessmen who had profited financially from their association with northern armed factions.

One militiaman told Human Rights Watch: “Some on the list are obvious because they took up arms and looted everything we worked for, or have been walking around beating people for smoking or not covering their heads. Others have collaborated – cooking, encouraging our children to join up. Do they think we don’t know who they are?”

Another militiaman said: “We know who is who. We know who showed the MNLA and MUJAO where we hid our cars, motorcycles and computers. We know who stole our generators, painted them and put them to use in their houses. We know who raped our women.”

A youth from Niafounké in Timbuktu who had contributed names to the list said: “We watched them [fighters] as they loaded up our stuff and onto trucks toward Mauritania – not just from us personally but from the hospital… They took millions of CFA [African Financial Community francs] in medicines, moto bikes and the ambulance. For those who betrayed the nation, there willbe a settling of scores.”

Many of those interviewed feared that collective punishment could be meted out against the Tuareg population in the future. “We’ve had to leave our villages, our women have been raped, and they [the MNLA and Islamist groups] stole all we worked for,” one militia member said. “This rage will lead them [past victims] to kill people – innocent people. It is very dangerous.”

Political leaders of the Ganda-Koi and Ganda-Izo militias interviewed by Human Rights Watch appeared genuinely concerned about the potential for collective punishment. They described efforts including informal training of the militia leaders to avoid it.

“We’re trying to teach them to respect life, to abide by the Geneva Conventions, but when one is on the ground we fear the boys will forget all that, especially if there are no courts to hand the accused over to,” one told Human Rights Watch.

MNLA fighters and elders cited the lack of justice for war crimes, including several massacres committed by the Malian army and allied Ganda-Koi militia against Tuareg villages during past rebellions since the 1960s, as being one of the motivations for again taking up arms earlier this year. Likewise, Songhai and Peuhl elders have noted the lack of justice for crimes committed during the MNLA and Islamist occupation of the north this year as providing fuel for potential violence by members of their communities.

A mid-level Songhai militia commander told Human Rights Watch, “For our communities to be able to live together again, those who raped, pillaged and destroyed our lives simply must be judged…only then can we repair relations.” A Tuareg elder similarly noted, “The Ministry of Justice should assure us these crimes will be dealt with. The state must put the ethnic tension on their agenda. They should bring leaders of all groups together in a truth-telling like experience [such as a Truth and Reconciliation Commission].Even if the militias have a list, it can be used to bring them before a TRC!”

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, established in September 2011 by the Geneva-based Council, reported earlier this month that the scale and frequency of gross human rights violations in Syria has significantly increased in recent weeks, with indiscriminate attacks against civilians occurring on a daily basis in many areas of the country.

Syria has been wracked by violence, with an estimated 19,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 18 months ago.

Today’s resolution was adopted by the 47-member Council by a vote of 41 in favour to three against (China, Cuba and Russia), with three abstentions (Philippines, India and Uganda).

The Council strongly condemned the “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” by the Syrian authorities and the Government-controlled militia known as the Shabiha.

It also strongly condemned the “increasing number of massacres” taking place in Syria, and requested the Commission to investigate all massacres.

Strongly condemning the massacre that took place earlier this year in the village of Al-Houla near Homs, where the forces of the Syrian Government and members of the Shabiha were found by the Commission to be perpetrators of “outrageous and heinous” crimes, the Council stressed the need to hold those responsible to account.

In the report presented earlier this month, the Commission said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Government forces and members of the Shabiha had committed war crimes, gross violations against human rights and crimes against humanity.

Violations conducted by Government forces include murder, summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, violations of children’s rights, pillaging and destruction of civilian objects – including hospitals and schools.

Anti-Government armed groups have also committed war crimes, including murder and torture, the panel found. In addition, children under 18 years of age are fighting and performing auxiliary roles for anti-Government armed groups.

A confidential list of individuals and units that are believed to be responsible for violations will be provided to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, the panel said.

Issued today and produced by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria under a mandate from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, the report states that war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, and gross violations of international human rights, including unlawful killing, attacks against civilians and acts of sexual violence, have been committed in line with State policy, with indications of the involvement at the highest levels of the Government, as well as security and armed forces.

Syria has been wracked by violence, with an estimated 17,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 17 months ago.

The report, which presents the CoI’s findings based on investigations conducted through 20 July, notes that the situation in the Middle Eastern country has deteriorated significantly in the past six months, with armed violence spreading to new areas and active hostilities between anti-Government armed groups and Government forces and members of the Government-controlled militia known as the Shabiha.

It also notes that more “brutal tactics” and new military capabilities have been employed in recent months by both sides to the conflict.

The report updates earlier findings on the events that took place in the town of Houla on 25 May, concluding that Government forces and Shabiha fighters were responsible for the killings there of more than 100 civilians – nearly half of whom were children.

In early June, the Human Rights Council had called for a “special inquiry” into the Houla massacre. It also adopted a resolution condemning in the strongest terms the use of force against civilians.

While opposition forces also committed war crimes, including murder and torture, the CoI says in its report that their violations and abuses were not of the same gravity, frequency and scale as those committed by Government force and the Shabiha.

It also reiterates the need for international consensus to end the violence and pave the way for a political transition process that reflects the aspirations of all segments of Syrian society.

In a news release issued by Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Commission underlined that the lack of access to the country significantly hampered its ability to fulfil its mandate, and for that reason it continued to collect firsthand accounts of the situation on the ground from people who left the country.

Established in September last year, the CoI has conducted 1,062 interviews since 15 February. Its report is scheduled to be presented at the 21st session of the Human Rights Council on 17 September.

Signed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Hussein Arab Isse, on behalf of the TFG, and the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, on behalf of the United Nations, the plan commits the Somali National Armed Forces, allied militia and military groups under its control to ending the killing and maiming of children in contravention of international law.

“We are calling on donors to support the Somali Government and its armed forces towards bringing about and enforcing the changes that will put these terrible practices to an end,” Mr. de Clercq said in a news release issued by the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).

The plan is the second one signed between the TFG and United Nations that helps bring about measures to halt and prevent the violation of children’s rights. The first action plan – to end the recruitment and use of children by the Somali National Armed Forces – was agreed on by the TFG in July.

According to UNPOS, full compliance with the latest action plan will result in the Government of Somalia being removed from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s list of parties who recruit, use, kill and maim children.