Syria TV to Air Assad Interview on Wednesday

Pro-regime television channel Al-Ikhbariya will air an interview with Syria's President Bashar Assad on Wednesday, the broadcaster said.

"Syria's Al-Ikhbariya has conducted an exclusive interview with President Bashar Assad... and it will be broadcast on Wednesday... at 9:30 pm (1830 GMT)," the channel said on its Facebook page.

Al-Ikhbariya published a photograph showing Assad seated in an office with two journalists.

In his last public appearance, Assad told two Turkish media outlets that the fall of his regime would produce a "domino effect" that would destabilize the region "for many years.”

"The whole world knows that if Syria is partitioned, or if terrorist forces take control of the country, there will be direct contagion of the surrounding countries," he said on April 5.

Troops loyal to Assad have been fighting an insurgency that erupted after his forces unleashed a brutal crackdown on an uprising that broke out in March 2011.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than five million others from their homes, including more than one million refugees.