TODAY   |  January 06, 2013

Syrian President Assad gives rare speech

In the midst of civil war, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed the country Sunday for the first time since June. He said he would continue to fight violence, blaming the crisis in Syria on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> gave a rare speech to his nation in the midst of a very violent civil war . nbc's stephanie gosk monitored the address from cairo. hi, stephanie , good morning.

>> reporter: good morning. basharal al assad hasn't addressed his country since june. he blamed the crisis in syria on terrorists, including al qaeda . there was little to no mention of the syrians that have picked up arms against the country. he did talk about a potential new political initiative that would include a new government, a new constitution and amnesty but he says that that could not go forward until the funding of the rebels came to an end. the european union responded very quickly to assad and said, no political proposal could move forward until assad steps down. syrian president made no mention of that happening. jenna?

>> stephanie gosk, live from cairo. thank you very much.