BY MALLORY PERRYMAN

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the violent protests in his country are the work of a foreign conspiracy.

In a rare 90-minute address on Tuesday-- al-Assad denied that security forces have ever been ordered to fire on protesters-- and he made clear-- he won’t step down because he believes Syrians support him.

Finally allowed to report from inside Syria-- CNN’s Nic Robertson says Assad’s speech was geared toward his supporters-- and did not indicate that compromise was in the cards.

Nic Robertson (CNN foreign correspondent): “There was nothing in the speech that would convince anyone I’ve met from the opposition so far that there’s some middle ground emerging here for the solution the president outlined: a government of national unity. He called on the opposition to work with his leadership...But what the opposition have told me that they want to see ... is that they wouldn’t trust the president while he said one thing while having a gun in the other hand.”

Assad claims outsiders are trying to destabilize Syria and remove him from power. The president specifically lashed out at the Arab League-- which currently has monitors in Syria to investigate the ongoing violence.

An international consultant tells RT-- Assad has good reason to be frustrated with the Arab League.

Lode Vanoost (International consultant): “Assad is clearly not what you call a democratic leader but within the Arab context, he’s certainly not the worst one of the countries. And what the Arab League is doing, I mean who does the Arab League represent? Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia. What are those? They are feudal monarchies. So he is right in saying that they are not the ones who should point the finger at him.”

The Arab League is using monitors and sanctions to try and quell the crackdown before it refers the case to the UN Security Council. But as Al Jazeera reports-- the possibility of the Security Council taking quick action looks unlikely.

Reporter: “The Security Council plans to hold another meeting on Syria on Tuesday behind closed doors but no one’s really expecting much, if any progress or change. In the meantime, it seems neither the amount of talking at the UN...”

Baso Sangqu (UN Security Council President): “All Council members are engaged in this resolution...”

Reporter: “...nor the number of deaths in Syria will end anytime soon.”

Assad says he will fight the terrorists with quote “an iron hand.” The uprising against him has been going on for 10 months-- and the United Nations estimates that more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict.