A public speech by besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has, where he denounced his opponents as “puppets of the west”, has drawn immediate and widespread criticism, as fighting in Syria continues to rage on.

In a defiant speech on Sunday, and the first public speech in six months, Assad told cheering supporters,

"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word…. This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation….There are those who seek to partition Syria and weaken it. But Syria is stronger and will remain sovereign. This is what upsets the West."

Assad went on to say,

“We do not reject political dialogue ... but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?... Should we speak to gangs recruited abroad that follow the orders of foreigners? Should we have official dialogue with a puppet made by the West, which has scripted its lines?"

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague responded on Twitter,

"Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making… Empty promises of reform fool no one."

A US State Department statement also labelled the speech as,

“yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people’s goal of a political transition.”

It went on to say,

“His initiative is detached from reality, undermines the efforts of Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, and would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people.

Even today, as Asad speaks of dialogue, the regime is deliberately stoking sectarian tensions... Asad has lost all legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and a democratic transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people. “

The Syrian opposition also reacted to the speech, with George Sabra, vice president of the opposition National Coalition, telling Reuters,

"We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people... The appropriate response is to continue to resist this unacceptable regime and for the Free Syrian Army to continue its work in liberating Syria until every inch of land is free."

Reuters also quoted a Syrian analyst Rana Kabbani as saying,

"Lakhdar Brahimi must feel foolish after that Assad speech, where his diplomacy is dismissed as intolerable intervention,"