Syria: President Bashar al-Assad keeps to hard line

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed anti-government protests on a small group of "saboteurs".

In his third address to the nation since protests began in March, he said Syria should deal with people's demands for reform but that a "small faction" was exploiting popular grievances.

He said a national dialogue would shape Syria's future and urged people who had fled to Turkey to return.

After the speech there were reports of further protests in several cities.

Local co-ordinators for the protesters said that reforms were no longer their demand. The only solution was a change of regime, their spokesman Ali Othman told the BBC.

Other opposition activists said that Mr Assad's speech was addressed to his loyalists - not to his opponents.

But Mr Assad's supporters said the speech was encouraging and responsive to people's demands.

Rights groups say at least 1,300 civilians have been killed in anti-government demonstrations since March, and more than 300 soldiers and police.

The BBC's Jim Muir, reporting from neighbouring Lebanon, says there were no dramatic announcements in Mr Assad's address, and it is unlikely to change the course of events in Syria.

The protesters have long given up on dialogue, he adds, and they believe that the authorities are incapable of serious reform from within and should be overthrown and then held to account.

The speech comes as European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels prepare a resolution expanding sanctions against Syria.

Meanwhile, people who fled a military assault in the north-west of Syria said the army had cut off the border town of Bdama, which had been providing supplies to displaced families.