Syria opposition 'a failure', has no role in political solution: Assad

President Bashar al-Assad gives a speech at an "iftar" meal in Damascus on August 4, 2013. Syria's crisis will only be solved by stamping out "terror", al-Assad said, in reference to rebels fighting his regime. (SANA/AFP)

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday described the main opposition National Coalition as a "failure", adding that it can have no role in ending the country's war.

"This opposition is not reliable, it is a failure at the popular and moral levels, and it has no role in solving the crisis, because it only seeks to make gains," Assad said in a rare speech televised on Syria's state TV channel.