CRI听力:Assad Admits Syrian Army 'Fatigued' by War

The Syrian conflict is now in its fifth year and is thought to have left more than 230 thousand people dead, while millions of others have been displaced.

Assad's speech comes after several months of setbacks for his government, which is confronting an array of armed groups including the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters and other rebel groups.

In the speech, his first in a year, Assad gives a frank assessment of the strains afflicting the Syrian military, saying the scale of the war is leaving the army fatigued.

"The power of the army comes from human resources, so if we want the army to do its best we have to provide our best. If we want the army to work as much as it can we must provide whatever it needs. Now everything is available but there is a lack of human resources".

There are reports suggesting Syria's army, a once 300,000-strong force, has been roughly halved in size by deaths, defections and a rise in draft dodging, with at least 70,000 men having avoided military service.

Since March, the Syrian government has suffered a series of battlefield defeats.

It's estimated that the government's territorial control now stands at no more than 25 percent of the country, mainly in the west, which is home to the majority of the population.

Assad admits that the army has been forced to give up areas in order to hold onto more important ones.

"It was necessary to specify critical areas for our armed forces to hang on to so that this would not lead to the fall of other areas and these areas are either important militarily, politically, economically and for services."

However, Assad has pledged to fight on and has ruled out the prospect of any negotiated settlement at the moment.

"Are Syrian forces capable of doing their duty and defending their motherland? Definitely and without exaggeration yes the armed forces are capable. I repeat again there is no collapse. We will resist and we will win".

Assad has also for the first time acknowledged the support from Iran and Hezbollah in the fight against the rebels.

He says Iran is providing military expertise and the Lebanese group is fighting alongside the Syrian army.

Several rounds of peace talks and the efforts of three UN envoys have so far failed to resolve the Syrian conflict.

The opposition is insisting Assad must step down under any political deal.

But his government says the focus of negotiations must be tackling "terrorism", a term the government uses for all those who oppose it.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is due to address the Security Council this week on consultations he has held with combatants and other parties involved in the war.

For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.